Beer of the Week

Wild Beer Co, Somerset Wild – 5 per cent, £3.75

I've talked about the Wild Beer Co and their penchant for experimentation before; their blended, barrel-aged saison 'Solera' featured earlier, and their Berliner Weisse style ale brewed with a sourdough culture pretty much suggested that this beer was inevitable.

Yes, the Wild Beer Co have finally done as their name suggests and cultured some 'wild' yeast strains and bacteria, then used the naturally occurring yeasts on apple skins to kickstart the fermentation of this, their bravest experiment yet.

What we have here is a young, unblended, lambic by another name, and it most certainly is lambic season now the sun is out.

Pouring a dusty platinum blonde, topped with the briefest flash-in-the-pan white head, the aroma is typical of the style.

Peaches and lemon sherbet shoot up the nostrils, shocking with their pungent fruit sharpness, before damp earth and heady farmyard funk kick in.

Apples, nutmeg, and grape juice get a foot in, but only as accents here and there, this is really a yeasty beasty.

The body is moderate, surprising for the style, and perhaps because of the buttery influence of the pedio. yeast and the beer's youth, this accentuates the yoghurt sharpness of the first impression.

A sharp lactic tang opens up into blanched peanuts and dying embers, a touch of petrichor subdued by creamy bananas and sour cream.

Not for the faint of heart – go in to this one with your mind open and your senses prepared though, and you'll be glad you did.

Recommened by Michael Bates, Trembling Madness, Stonegate, York

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