In a collaboration between the New Belgium Brewing Company of Colorado and the Bouwerij Boon of Belgium, the Transatlantique Kriek was born. The beer is a spontaneously fermented Boon lambic ale made with Polish cherries and blended with a new beer from New Belgium. In Belgium, Frank Boon aged a base kriek beer for two years and then shipped it across the Atlantic Ocean and a good part of the American continent to the aging tanks at New Belgium. In the hands of brewmaster Peter Bouckaert, New Belgium added a full-bodied golden ale to Boon's cherry-influenced base beer. "Overall, we wanted to create a beer with a substantial body to balance out the lightness of Frank's beer."

The final product is a brilliant cranberry, red color with no sediment in the bottle. After opening the bottle, the room filled with the aroma of tart cherries. The beer pours with a wispy, white head that quickly dissipates. The aroma is sharply tart with cherry hints, with some raspberry notes. For its lambic roots, the beer notably lacks any earthy hints in the aroma.

The Transatlantique Kriek is a difficult beer to describe. The flavor is quite elusive and quickly changes on you. Up front there is a light shot of sweet cherry flavor, followed quickly by a burst of tartness and acidity, with some earthiness and wheat notes in the finish. The finish is extraordinarily dry with little to no residual sweetness. As the beer warms, the cherry flavor begins to shine through more and finish becomes ever so slightly medicinal.

Overall, the Transatlantique Kriek is an interesting project with an underwhelming result. And strangely enough, the weak link here is the beer produced by New Belgium as Boon's unadulterated cherry lambic was very interesting. The unblended Boon beer pours with a truly striking brilliant red hue. It is hugely sour in flavor, with an intriguing balance of residual sweetness and cherry flavor, but remains near bone dry in the finish.

At New Belgium's unveiling event, brewmaster Peter Bouckaert asked Pizza Port's brewer Tomme Arthur to speak. During his remarks, in which he implored brewers to continue pushing towards a greater market share, Arthur spoke of the importance of collaborating with other brewers. And in an intriguing note, Arthur revealed that he and Bouckaert had discussed the possibility of collaborating on a future project. Beer drinkers everywhere anxiously await the results of that union.