Girardin Kriek

Brewed by Brouwerij Girardin
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Sint Ulriks-Kapelle, Belgium

A mid-sized off-white head with perfect retention - the creamy cap just will not recede. The body is a murky light ruby with deep earthy orange hints. Sweet cherry, doughy and tart underlying. The first nosing surprises me with a blast of horseblanket and sour acidity. Must subsides quickly and the complexity of real cherries takes over again. Oak notes are medium-intensity and bespeak usage of old barrels and older technique. Black cherries and sweet cream fade slower and linger in the nasal cavities. The flavor is moderately tart, lightly to mildly sweet but that sweetness increases exponentially with each sip, mildly to moderately astringent. Oak notes fade in and out. The creamy cherry flavors really pin the farmhouse funkiness and sourness to the deep within, only letting hints out near the finale of each sip. This drinks more like a sour fruit beer with awesome lambic base beer added, not the other way around. Fruit flavors are realistic and lovely. The finish is sweet and fades quickly into a chalky cherry pie flavor. The mouthfeel is creamy but high carbonation clusters the component ingredients across the palate, chalky tartness witheld doesn’t help. Very tasty but not highly quaffable.

Pinkish murk. Brie and vinegar lambic nose with a tempting fruit balance. Spritzy, musty, creamy and sweet-sour. Chianti butteriness, sourness and oak. A nicely rounded Kriek, with a PH more alkaline than battery acid.

25cl capped bottle. pours dense red with pink head. beautiful. smell is slightly musty with dusty old cherries. pretty interesting nose. flavor is odd - cherries, musty, little too sweet, and not a very flavorful cherry profile. too acidic as well. just a decent kriek.

Bottle. Sampled post-BCTC @ RateBeer tent. Reddish-brown coloring with limited head. Grapes, dates, pinot noir. Extremely tart - a pucker-me-do punch. Dry, sour, melts off the tongue quickly. Pleasing.

Hazy red colour, almost no white/pink head. Aroma is of cherry, wood and horseblanket. Flavour is of cherry, going into a sourness combined with red fruits. Refreshing and drinkable.

red with no head... smells old cherry pie. tastes the same with some sour and acid notes... not that great but maybe i just dont like krieks

75cL bottle, courtesy of eclectic @ BCTC 2007. Thanks, Kevin! Pours a clear, ruby red color; light pink head with fine-bubbled lacing. Buttery raspberries and cherries in the aroma; creamy and strange. Relaxed buttery notes in the mouthfeel; still buttery, but with a nice cherry tartness and fresh red fruits; tart with pleasant acidity. Medium, chewy and buttery finish. Too much butter.

Bottle (0.375l): Hazy, red-brown coloured, big, persistent pink head; fruity, a bit burgundy-like and musty nose; solid sweet-sour flavour, light bodied, soft MF; sweet-sour finish with lambic qualities in the aftertaste. Sweeter than the "heartburn"-stuff, but literally refreshing.........