Belle-Vue Kriek

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

Bottle from Tesco, Loudwater, Bucks.. 375ml. I see Belle-Vue fruit beers being in the middle of the scale, on one hand you have the super sweet almost alcopops of Jacobins and Timmermans, then you have the complex sour ones from Cantillon, Belle Vue seem to hold the middle ground with the likes of Mort Subite. This is not over sweet, but is not exactly beer. With a little more sugar this could qualify as an alcopop but in this state its just an average kriek. Ok.

(Bottled, 0.375l) Very deep, clear, red color with a large, big-bubbly and cloudy, lasting head. Sweet-candyish, slightly acidic, berryish cherry aroma. Sweet, very slightly tart cherry-candy flavor with a quick, drier cherry stone finish. Medium-bodied, a bit thin, moderately sugary, slightly foamy-carbonated palate. An easy, but quite uninteresting dessert lambic.

Burgundy in colour, with aromas of cherry and balsamic vinegar. Unfortunately the cherry flavor of this beer is more like "fake" or "processed" cherry than the real thing. Other earthy flavors are apparent as well. I think this bottle might have been corked. Finished dry. No balance to this one at all.

Bottle corked and caged. Very attractive pour. Brown/red with a thick foamy head, like champagne. Nose smells like malty cherry cough syrup. The taste is tart, malty, sweet, and has a carbo bite that flattens out quickly. There are also secondary notes of plums, black licorice, and vinegar. The vinegar note is very sharp and off putting. The cherry flavor is not overdone. It hides in the background very well. The finish is a little too sharp and acidic. Overall, this isn’t bad, but there are much better out there.

a fiery, will scarlet rose and cinnamon colored libation, it hisses with a fine initial rush of rust-tinted champagne-like foam. slightly bready malts, toffee, and plum combine with cellar-musty yeasts to form an aromatic foundation. then, of course, you don’t have to be a pedigreed coon-hound to sniff out this wealth of sour marischino-like cherries. likewise, the oakiness is as obvious as walking through an unfinished furniture store. while i can’t help but suspecting that many of these qualities could be produced by a confectionary chef and/or a chemist-- with a lot less effort than that required by the supposed three year brewing process, this cherry hard cider malt beverage with a kind of flemish-sour acidity is rich, sweet, complex and very pleasing-- certainly a nice change of pace amid an evening beer drinking. and deserving of great accollades JUST for not resembling a cherry cough syrup.

Corck is nice and moldy...yuck! Pours a nice garnet hue. Dark and luscious looking. Beautiful champagne looking head. Brew smells like birlliant cherries. Very swet and red smelling. Notes of cherries (duh), cloves?, well really just an excellently spicy malt in the background. taste is slightly chemically, but I feel more that that is due to the darkness of the malt and less to the fact that chemicals were used to make it. Tastes like a very light quadrupel honestly. Grat

Very nice ruby body with a pink bubbly head. Pleasant aroma of real cherries with some hints of balsamic vinegar and oak. Mouthfeel starts with a quite carbonated attack. Then comes some fruity flavors and a paperish dry final that lacks some punch and lenght. There are plenty of better Krieks...

Undated bottle. Pours a very deep raspberry red, but quite clear. No sediment?? Yikes. Small light pink head. Smells of sweet black cherries, light balsamic vinegar. Flavor is right away bittersweet, not as heavily sweet and syrupy as I was expecting though. Claims to be oak aged and there is a dry, lightly astringent flavor present, but not terribly oaky tasting. Little lambic quality, the filtration no doubt taking care of that, no funk. Not trying to jump on the trash talk interbrew bandwagon, but man, this was disappointing. The flavor wasnt bad or inoffensive, but just nothing adventurous, no personality.