March 04--If you've dreamed of drinking a basil patch, well, good news.
A limited amount of SpontanBasil, a collaborative brew between Danish brewer Mikkeller and Belgium's Lindemans Brewery, has landed in Chicago. SpontanBasil is as odd a brew as you could hope to find -- but that's only a good thing.
The beer is a lambic, meaning it has been exposed to wild yeast and bacteria during fermentation, which leads to a wonderfully ripe earthiness and pronounced tartness. In what the brewers are touting as a first, this lambic was fermented with fresh, whole basil leaves.
The basil is unmistakable: From the moment the bottle is cracked open, the beer smells like you've stumbled face first into a garden and rolled around for an hour. The basil pops on the palate, too, accented by lemony brightness. Forget anything resembling American beer; hop and malt presence are nil. But that's by design.
SpontanBasil is lush, verdant, tart and as interesting a beer as you'll try all year. That said, lambics age well, and I'm curious to see how this beer does with a few years of storage. It's likely to become earthier and funkier still, creating even more balance for that face full of basil.
SpontanBasil is quite limited, though its $25 (and up) price tag will probably keep it on shelves for at least a little while longer than most limited brews.
jbnoel@tribpub.com
