Belle-Vue Kriek

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

Basic lambic. I remember drinking this at a mediocre and over priced Belgian cafe. Not a bad lambic, but not the best.

Copper-red hue, with a pink foamy head. Sweet cherries even shade of raspberries with shy oaky note lambic in the aromas, follow a medium-bodied of sweet cheery note in the palate with a mild tartness and a shy acidity on the finish. A mild kriek lambic for the none-initiated

375ml bottle with cork and cage. Could hardly get a head on this one at all which marks down the appearance a little in this case. Very interesting hazy red garnet colour with a slight amber tint. Sour fruity cherry aroma with a little oak in the background. Taste starts with cherry laden fruitiness, then becomes sour with a slight tannin finish. Even though there was no head in my case, the carbonation felt about right and the feel was quite smooth. Looking forward to trying more lambics, I don’t mind this style.

Bottle. Dark pinky-red with a thin off-white pinkish head. Cherry malty nose, trees, not offensive, sweetish. Moderately carbonated mouth, sweet cherry, woody, then a touch of sourness. Reminds me of sweet cherry sweets I ate as a child, and black forest gateaux. Not much palate, what there is is a bit woody. Slightly sour towards the end. All in all, well rounded, not bold enough for my liking though. Bit ’flimsy’

A light sweet nose that is pleasant. Typical brown-reddish color. The taste is predominately cherries, not surprisingly. Rather sweet, not really sour enough, though there is a light tart finish. Thin and refreshing.

Dark red color - darker and more beer-like than most krieks, with a pink frothy head. Aromas of sour cherries. Tastes drier than I expected, although there is still plenty of cherry present. Smooth, creamy and sour, with a woody, oaky hint towards the finish. Aftertaste is surprisingly short and dry, with some lingering fruity notes.

Sweet cherry beer, but not in the true lambic vein. Great color, good fruity aroma. Flavor was generally pretty good, but I could have been tempted to imagine cough syrup if I was pressed. Struck me as more of a ladies’ beer.

Pretty red color, looks like there is sediment in there, but I don’t think there is...it just looks a bit cloudy. The head was huge but short-lived. Not a whole lot of aroma, just a sour cherry smell with a hint of beer in there somewhere. The taste is quite dry and sour, and there is a salty undertone as well, but the cherry taste is fresh and fits well in the overall taste of this one. When I drank this, I had images of summertime over ice...strange for a lambic. It’s refreshing, but not something I want often, and to be honest not my favorite lambic. The best thing about this one is the fact that I wouldn’t call this a ’glorified malt beverage’ like some of the others.