Lambickx (Zenne Valley, Private Domain)

Lambics are truly the “wines” of the beer world. With wine one speaks of “gout de Terroir” because the land so inﬂuences a wine’s ﬂavor. With Lambics, one must speak of “gout de Tonneau SM“ because each cask (tonneau) produces a lambic that matures and tastes different. Blending these Tonneau is such an art that there exist independent Geuzestekkerij (blenders) who buy young Lambic then age and bottle it under their own name.

Lambickx™ is Vanberg & Famille’s brand of hand-selected and blended lambics. Every Lambic with the Lambickx™ name is made from casks personally tasted and chosen by Don Feinberg, one of the ﬁrst importers of Belgian beer to America and founder of the ﬁrst Belgian-only brewery in the U.S. Don chooses his Lambics for their complexity, brilliance and drinking excellence both by themselves and as exquisite accompaniments to food.

NOTE: Bottle counts and barrel oak types vary but all entries go under here.

Region: Zenne Valley

Source: Private Domain

3.6

227 reviews

Ichtegem, Belgium

Community reviews

3.8 Cloudy orange, nice white head. Smells of lemon and cold steel. Very lemony flavor, with notes of vinegar and dust. dry finish. Very tasty.

4.1 Soft golden orange pour with some haze and one finger of off white head. Very nice aroma with soft fruits, peach/apricot, light phenolics, grassy barnyard notes. Moderate acidity with a forward funkyness and grassy character. Soft stone fruit and a touch of citrus. Lightly earthy. Light bodied with a soft carbonation and crisp tartness.

3.8 Bottle at home bit of secret celebration for secret matter. Orange pour small soapy filmy head. Nose is decent lambic funk. Tastes of light honey, white wine, light cheese, earthy mushrooms. Touch of carbonation and lingering finish. Fairly good not sure why I hadn’t picked a bottle sooner

3.7 Bottle pours hazy golden with a white head. Aroma of oak, fruit and tart. Taste is oak and a subtle tartness.

3.1 Juice like-doesn’t have a lot of tartness expected from This style beer. Easy to drink, however.

3.9 Bouteille de 750ml. J’aime l’étiquette. Un liquide doré pâle qui ne mousse que très peu. Un nez très agréable où l’aigreur n’est pas dominatrice. Une bouche presque soyeuse pour une gueuze, les notes aigres sont agréables. Très réussi malgré une texture qui ne se démarque pas.

3.8 75 cl partagée avec Yan, célèbre pistolero. Blond liquide sans mousse et sans bulles ou presque. Nez de sésame, de fruits (banane, citron), de funk modeste mais très plaisant, doux. Au goût, acidité contrôlée, allongement délicieux des fruits, graines de sésame, foin et paille poussiéreuse. Corps huileux sans véritable mouvement. En finale, agréable aigreur.

3.6 Refrigerated 75 cl green 2011 bottle corked and capped poured into a tulip. Clear golden with small white head. Aroma is dry, medium/light body, medium carbonation, and little lacing. Taste is subtle tartness and some oak. Easy drinking.

4.4 Aroma is tart/sour fruit, quite musty and a hint of spices. The flavor is fruit, malts, complex sour/tart notes, very light graininess and a mix of earthy and slightly sugary sweetness in the finish.

3.6 LambicX is my introduction to the aged Lambic. (I haven’t knowingly consumed one this old, anyway.) While I’ve heard they mellow out with time, I wasn’t ready for how much the sourness was softened. While there was some leftover tartness, it was much more redolent of green grape than vinegar or citric acid. In fact, that vinous quality kept coming up in my mind during the tasting. The smooth body and subtle tropical notes reminded me a lot of a semi-sweet white wine like a sauvignon blanc. Some light tones from the oak, too. While I tend to love the extreme acidity of these polarizing beers, trying something like this was a real treat. Still, I’m doubtful I’d brave that price tag, again.

3.0 Bottle. A- Vinegar, sulfur, subtle funk, slightly tart. A- Pale yellow color, clear liquid, minimal head. T- Vinegar, slightly sour, tart, subtle funk. P- Light body, average texture, medium carbonation, tart finish. O- Brew year 2011 / Bottle year 2012. This managed to be tart and sour without being loaded down with funk. Balanced well and although not overly flavorful, it was refreshing.

3.8 Bomber. Pours a ruby red with a pink head and tart, cherry aroma. Taste is tart as well, cherry and fruit notes, along with brett and oak into the tart, cherry finish.

3.8 2013 Brew Year; 2014 Bottle Year; Sampled April 2015 A steady pour into my glass produces large bubbled, 1/4-finger thick, light tan colored head. The beer is a light amber, with a hint of red color to it, and it shows a brilliantly clear, golden / amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells sharp, acidic, a bit like cat pee, with a background of woody, musty mushrooms, some wild barnyard like notes, and a hint of sun-baked straw. Somewhat sour, though not quite as much as the aroma suggested, the carbonation is fairly light, and the body is a bit watery because of this. There is a lactic slickness to the texture here though, so this is not overly thin. The finish has lots of woody, oaken flavors to it that are smooth and well integrated. Woody mushroom notes, a musky tang, perhaps a bit of medicinal / disinfectant character, as well as a touch of fruitiness that leans towards cider (especially in the finish), and perhaps a hint of lemon. The touch of carbonation makes this much more enjoyable than the previous version of LambickX that I had; it could still use quite a bit more carbonation though, but it is enough to have me really enjoying this. This is surprisingly good.

3.8 This stuff seriously smells like weed, like more so than any hoppy beer I’ve ever tried. It’s really pleasant though and I liked this quite a bit overall--and a lot better than the more highly rated kriek blended by the same people. It is cloudy orange w/ just a little bit of head. It’s nose is funky and the mix of phenolics and whatever else is like smelling a bag of marijuana in a room that someone is smoking marijuana. It is sort of tannic and quite tart but not to the point where it’s harsh, which makes for a rather refreshing beverage. I kind of wish this had more gueuze-like carbonation but the rather alluring nose makes up for most short-comings in any other regard.

3.2 On draft at Stone Oakquinox. Hazy yellow pour, with an off white head. Oak, sour fruit, citric, wet dog, grass, and some sweet bread. Ok, not a great lambic.

3.7 Bottle..Wow, Pour is yellow with a bubbly head..Nose is funk, old socks, herbs, berries, oak...Taste is dry, oak, berries, light funk, herbs...

3.3 Bottle, shared. Gold-amber pour with a few sparse bubbles of white foam. Aroma is funky, mild cheesy notes, oaky, light winey aromas. Taste is tart, light lactic and citric acidity. Palate is dry, very light carbonation (almost flat). Decent.

3.6 Bottle shared by Eric Teusink. Aroma is fruity tangerine and funky yeast. Flavor is cheesy funk and a little bit of fruit. Finish is a little metallic and a little awkward. Really interesting beer.

3.5 Sample tasted at Casanova Liquors. Pours cloudy golden orange. Aroma is funk and lemon citrus. Taste is similar with dry wine like finish. Decent.

3.7 Bottle sample at a sour tasting at the Beer & Beyond shop. Thanks DSG. Pours yellow to orange with no head, pleasant aroma of lemon, green tea and horses blanket, flavor is sulfuric with metal, lemon, brett, citrus and dried leaves, medium bodied, Nice.

3.4 Interesting lambic with some light bretta. Light aroma of cheese and some grapefruit. Pours hazy light orange without any head or lacing. Low carbonation. Light sour finish. Some bread yeast reminiscent of Berliners. Tap at pizzeria paradiso Dupont.

3.8 Bottle shared at a sour tasting at the Beer & Beyond shop. Cloudy orange. Lovely aroma with barnyard, mustiness, citrus and oak. Sour flavor, fruity and oaky, musty, with citrus, barnyard. a bit of sweat and a slightly astringent bitterish woody finish with a light metallic hint. Medium-bodied, flat. Really good.

4.1 Bottle from west Lakeview liquor. Pours a cherry red with no head. Aromas of tart cherries, funk, grass and acidity. Very complex. Sour cherries up front dominate the taste with the funk holding the tartness on the palate. Just clings. Oak and nutty flavours coming out of the barrels. Cherry tart coats the palate. Great beer.

3.6 Tap at Rattle n Hum as Lambickz Gueuze 5.7%. Nose of grapefruit, leaves, funk, leather. Cloudy dark golden color with lace. Light tartness int eh flavor, lemony, quite sweet. Leather, hay, tobacco, a bit of smoke. Decent, but lacking. Too sweet.

3.9 "Refreshingly funky. Grassy, lemony, barnyard-y. Quite carbonated but not overly so, the pucker hits just right and was thoroughly enjoyed..............."

4.2 Bomber from a PUB’R capo. Pours turbid gold with minimal white head. Nose is amazing: super tart fruit, lactic acidity, really on a Cantillon level here. Tastes tart, but nor nearly as tart as Cantillons, witha very earthy and funky and yeasty flavor, a lot of fruit, apricot, mild pear, and a very smooth finish. This one was very good, and not so tart, but rather very smooth as it warmed. Just incredible. My only beef is that it is perhaps a TAD slightly under-carbonated for this style.

3.6 Bottle . Pours unclear blonde , small white head smell is way more sharp and intense than the other version , less funk . Taste is sour , brett , very dry , some butter . Tastes diluted . Low carbo . Not intense enough to be concidered a ’ real ’ geuze . Ok , but nothing more .

3.0 750 ml, no carbonation, completely flat, lots of cheese and barnyard flavors, smell is really bad taste is disjointed and all over the place. Definitely a crapshoot style and this one is crap.

3.2 Draft. Pours with minimal head, golden color. Aroma is slightly tart with some barnyard. Flavor is slightly tart with a honey like malt sweetness. Not nearly as sour as I thought. Some light cheesy notes going on as well. Ok but definitely would like more sourness to it.

2.2 I did not like this. Might have been a little better on a super hot day, bit taste is too sour, like lemon peel, and very funky. Almost like vinegar.