Belle-Vue Kriek

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

sour aroma, opens with sweet cherry taste, switches to a sour finish.

Justlike the gueuze, this is a commercial kriek, and tastes very sweet, not fruity at all, like you taste with the lindemans one.

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.

rerate: Can this have had a make-over. More tart, less sweetness and better alround? Maybe I was just pissed Original: Big shortlived head, great colour. Tastes like unmixed cherry cordial, soft mouthfeel. Ok but probably not my preferred style.

Latest Rating: Just as good looking as the first rating but the aroma and flavour are not quite as artificial as I remember. I like my lambics a little stronger in character but it’s a good introductory lambic to bring along for newbies and the ladies.
First rated 4/26/2002: 2.8 98% of the bottle pours a clear cherry-rasberry red colour, and mid- pink-red, fine, medium lasting head. A trace of sediment left in bottle. Fruity somewhat artificially sweet aroma. Typical kriek fruity, slightly musty, flavour with moderately well balanced sour-sweet palate and sour-dry refreshing finish. There are better krieks out there. Would get a better overall rating in hotter weather.

Aug, 2003: Bottle - Belle-Vue. I sampled this alongside Mort Subite Kriek and Echte Kriek. Opening the very tight cork was stressful and difficult, but produced nothing more spectacular than a small sighing pop. The delightful foam settled into penicillin clumps above congealed blood - the whole thing appearing to be the sort of drink the devil would offer you when signing a Faustian pact.
The aroma was initially sharp and tingly - making the hairs at the back of my throat stand up - then it got gradually musty before the cherries came out, quite attractively wrapped in cobwebs and old newspapers. The aroma was more complex than the Mort, but less pleasant.
The mouthfeel was the most pleasant of the three - there was a gentle life to the beer that made it taste fresh from the surgery, but never intruded rudely with gas, farting or an alka-seltzer of any sort.
It had the most restrained flavour of the three in terms of sweetness and sourness, with an edge toward the sourness but mostly well balanced. The flavour was pleasantly cherry - not strong, but a definite cherry - finishing with a mild, barky, earthy bitterness; subtle - just present enough to notice.
A pleasant experience - more interesting and a better quality than I expected - but not really memorable or especially great. [3.5]
Feb, 2004:Bottle (La Becasse Kriek). Sweet, sweaty leather spanked cherries being chased across the schoolyard. A swirling cherry sweetness comes to a blank stop. Not great. [2.4]
Fec, 2005:Bottle - Belle-Vue. Appearance is lovely. Taste is enjoyable - good mix of sweet and sour. Nice cherries and assorted mouldy bits. Good mouthfeel. Fresh, cleansing and attractive. [3.1]

Red, very bright color. Very sweet and fruity smell and dito flavour, but all in the end a rather bad palate.

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.