Revel Cider (Guelph) X Escarpment Laboratories (Guelph, ON)

Revel's long been obsessed with the way Lambic producers layer acid, tannin and bitterness in their beverages. They love drinking these so much, that they tried to recreate one using fruit. Pom Lam is a collaboration with Richard Preiss of Escarpment Labs. First, hops were aged oxidatively for 6 years in the rafters of the cidery. Then they boiled those hops in pear juice for 4 hours, on a school night no less. They put this bitter, tannic pear juice into a barrel of mixed fermentation beer Richard made and let it rest for 8 months. Finally, they blended that barrel with Zweigelt and Blaufränkish and bottle conditioned for another 11 months before release. For something that took the better part of a decade to make, it's really really good (thank god). It smells just like funky Lambic, but also like grapefruit pith, peaches and the soft pineapple of aged hops. NOT GUTEN FREE

8.8%