Belle-Vue Kriek

Brewed by Belle-Vue (InBev)
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium

Very nice cheery lambic ale. Slight hint of horsey flavor like true lambic with strong cherry aroma.

Dark red color with a slightly pink head. The aroma is sour cherries and some lemons. The taste is sweeter than I expected with cherry cough drops and some notes of bread. Htins of hay. The taste is sweeter than a normal lambic, but still pretty good. There is hardly any funky lambic character detectable.

Interesting beer that could easily pass for something else. Smalles like a cough drop and tastes about the same...if it wasn’t for the alcohol in it, I’d try and use it to sooth my throat. That said, for special occassions this might not be half bad...it’s quite expensive in Canada (but what isn’t?) but I must say I was quite intrigued.

Valentine’s day and something special for my 300th review from my better half. Poured into a thin tulip it shows a light brandy-sherry color. 3 finger pink tinted meringue head. Wonderful nose: fruity, medicinal, slightly musty with a wisp of treacle. Slick mouthfeel dominance of fruit but there is a subtle but constant undertone of horse blanket layered with spice, earth...finish is wet, sour, musty with fruit over tones. Wonderfully layered between sweet-sour-bitter-musty. Wonderful stuff. I like it so kill me.

As La Becasse Kriek. Dark red with an off-white head. Aromas are cherry drops sweets with hints of musty sourness. Flavours are sweet cherries followed by, er, not much. Its more factory than farmyard, which is a shame. Is this a real airbourne yeast fermented beer? It seems too sterile. As a sweet cherry beer it is OK, as a lambic, not.

Cherry cough syrup. This stuff is so sweet that besides the heavy cherry flavor, nothing else comes through. I rarely leave a beer unfisished, but this one when down the drain after a few tastes. This taught me that I need to seek more information from bartenders before ordering any old beer.

middle pinkish head on a dakr red body. Very fine for a fruit lambic. Not too bitter, just the right amount of bitterness and fruitness that suits a sweet dessert. A pleasure to drink.

For such a widely available lambic, this is quite good. It pours well with a good two-finger head and fine carbonation. It’s sweet, but not artificially so. The flavour is admittedly a little on the simple side, but is enjoyable none the less. Perhaps the perfect beer to serve with lamb if you don’t feel like having a wine. Not a beer for the fruit lambic connoisseur, but enjoyable for anyone looking for something different, or for people who don’t normally enjoy beer.