Cuvée De Ranke

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Sour Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

Lovely floral and grassy aroma like a summer meadow. Hazy golden with a decent head. Mild acidity. (Sampled @ Bulldog in Ginza, Tokyo, February 2009.)

Bottle courtesy of fogdog in the Perfect 10v4 trade. Little bit of vinegar accumulation on top of the cork suggesting a poor seal was formed. Not sure if this is responsible for the seemingly dull carbonation or whether this is the standard for this beer. Will have to try it again at some point. Pours a nearly still dirty brown amber with a touch of a white head comprised of some large ugly bubbles. Large barn and vinegar aromas, old caramel, nice cheesy funk. Medium bodied, lackluster carbonation, toffee, caramel, balsamic vinegar, dry brett. Finishes up dry with some lingering tangy caramel and dry tart notes.

Clear orange gold, bubbly, light head. Very sour aroma, rather attacks your nose. There is some fruit in there as well, reminds me of the same fruit in Cuvee de Castleton. Nectarine, peach. Those come through in the flavor, and the carbonation comes off as a slightly prickly texture, further reminding me of peaches. Moderately aggressive sourness. My goodness this is good stuff. Has a lot of the juicy fruit flavors that even a lot of lambics don’t usually have. A bitterness in the back that I might describe as "cherry pit" in some other beers, only here I would call it peach pit. Delicious.

Bottle, 75 cl, shared with friends at Poatersgat. Wow, a beer between bitter and sour! The beer looks golden with no head (which is normal for lambic beers). The smell is sour, but also fruity and hoppy. Light sour actually. The taste: first it starts with lambic-sour, but also here only light sour. Further on in the beer the bitterness is coming, also some fruitiness. Very special and prosperous mix between a sour and bitter beer. Maybe an essential step for people who want to taste Gueuze, but who are finding it too sour.

75 cl bottle shared with friends @ poatersgat, brugge. Light golden colour with very small white head. Smell: sour and fruity. Taste: a nice mix between sour and bitter. First more sourness and then bitterness. Nice and easy drinking and refreshing ale!

Clear orange pour with vivacious carbonation and a one finger white head. Aroma is of citrus, yeast funk, copious brett character, grapes, apple cider, and farmyard. Flavor is quite tart with lots of light fruit, brett funk, and citrus. Palate is medium bodied, attenuated and dry. Amazing example of the style.

750ml bottle, slight hazy yellow gold hue, with an off-white head, yeasty, funky, bretty, fruity, barnyard, woody, leathery nose, with a juicy lemony, acidic, sour green apple, faint white wine vinous accent, and some nice lambic tartness notes in the aroma floows through on a medium-bodied palate with a nice yeasty, funky, bretty, tart, sour green apple, citrus lemony character, with a good rhubarb fruity sourness note, and a light wet woody, musty accent, leading towards a juicy sour lemony, tart, dry finish.

Aroma:full citrus,spicy... Appearance:hazy gold,light head... Flavor:sour citrus,light grape fruit...