De Ranke Kriek

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

750 ml bottle courtesy of a trade with GAManiac. Pours a hazy deep pink with lots of carbonation bubbles with a thin pink-tinted linen white head that lasted through the first sip and completely vaporized. The aroma is fairly sour with cherry, yeast and dusty wood on the nose. The flavor is tart cherries with less sourness than in the aroma. There is also some yeast and oak in the flavor as well. Bright and somewhat effervescent on the palate. Quite nice.

bottle, i can imagine it being very nice if you like these kinds of beers. but my stomach can’t hold this. i know i’m a softy...

Pours cloudy ruby with a small off-white head. Nose is sour cherries and cheese. Initial fairly intense sourness is balanced with more fruit flavor, especially cherry, and heavy wild yeastiness - old cheese, hay, horseblanket. Remarkably clean finish. Fairly dry. Loved it.

750ml Bottle: Aroma of tart fruit, cherries, slight wood, and a hint of spiciness. Poured ruby/magenta/red in color with a small pink/white head that lasted around the edges. Cloudy. Not sparkling. Flavor is medium to heavily tart and light to medium sweet. Tastes of tart fruit, wood, oak, cherries, slight barnyard, acid, and a little raspberry. Light to medium body. Thin, tingly, puckering texture. Average to lively carbonation. Tart, sweet, cherry finish is slightly dry.

Corkscrew needed. Aroma wafts from bottle as soon as open. A melange of funk emerges including horseblanket, candied cherries, and the pedio is almost enough to be off-putting. Ditto with the medicinal qualities I smell, but both that and the pedio burn off. Basically smells ripe. The color is fricken fabulous: a terrifically bright shade of magenta with a head the color of strawberry ice cream. Light effervescence, and head disappears as if it were never there. The beer is a lot more sour than I was expecting. Very low carbonation, almost flat and seems thin at first. Finishes rather abruptly but is clean and dry. Well, I’m really glad I got to have a full glass of this, because the more I taste of it, the more the natural cherry flavors come out. That is a very nice experience. Aromas start to reveal more of a maraschino quality, and yogurty lactic acid brightens up in the palate. Sipping and savoring, it’s quite a sophisticated brew and I wouldn’t have noticed if I made the judgment call too soon.

Aroma--Predominent cherry notes. Interestingly, I also detected medical bandages. Rather than detract, I thought this added to the aroma. Appearance--Dark cherry color. This beer cannot be "seen through" and there is a slight cloudiness to it. Taste--Very sour, puckering and tart. Compared to other lambics (like Lindemans or Boon) this is very, very dry. I also noted some citrus flavors, particularly lemon. Mouthfeel--Very fine carbonation. Rich and thick with a mouth popping astringency. Drinkability--Drier than most lambics, this is very tart. I envision it as a wonderful post-dinner beer by the fire.

Bouteille verte de 750 ml partagée lors d’une dégustation Ratebeer Montréal chez Rastacouere. Arôme: Légère odeur de cerises sucrées. Apparence: La couleur est ambrée voilée. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de cerises avec une pointe de citron. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture huileuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Arrière goût légèrement sûrette. (Rating #2315)

This bottle of stuff is wrapped in white wrapping paper that has red print on it. Don’t throw away the wrap, cause there is nothing printed on the bottle, cool. Farmy sour cherry aroma when I pop the conventional beer cap. Poured from a big champagne size green bottle, no cork. A reddish colored lavender colored beer and its cloudy from the glop on the bottom. Delicious bona fide lambic flavors, sourness is puckering. After each sip I think I detect some hops in there but it never really develops, stays friendly thru each guzzle. Lambic oh lambic, my friend real lambic; the beer of beers, the history of beers. Sour to the bone and more. Takes me back to the first time I ever had something sour. I have always loved sour as far as I can remember and this is the epitome of sour enjoyment. . Has more real lambic flavors than most fruit lambics. OK, so now I see it is a sour ale, but the label says lambic added. Oh well, tastes like a lambic to me! Finish? What finish? I can’t believe the whole bottle is gone! Balderdash! You better be careful, this stuff gives no hint of alky in there. De Rank Kreik S7L5F5T89O18