Grand River Ploegers Vlaams Rood

Brewed by Grand River Brewing
Style: Sour Ale
Cambridge, Canada

Brown bottle, 341 ml, purchased at the brewery by my mom on May 18 2008, savoured on November 27 2008; eye: golden, clear, no effervescence, white head that disappears almost completely and turns into a tiny ring, no lacing; nose: lots of malt, dusty hay; mouth: lots of malt, dusty hay, slight sugar, finale in malt with a good presence of dusty hay, thin, average carbonation, lightly sweet, no bitterness, medium-light body; overall: disappointing FRANÇAIS Bouteille brune, 341 ml, achetée à la brasserie par ma maman le 18 mai 2008, savourée le 27 novembre 2008; œil : dorée, claire, pas d’effervescence, mousse blanche qui disparaît presque complètement et se transforme en un petit anneau, pas de dentelle; nez : beaucoup de malt, foin humide; bouche : beaucoup de malt, foin humide, très léger sucre, finale en malt avec beaucoup de foin humide, mince, carbonatation moyenne, légèrement sucrée, aucune amertume, corps moyen-léger; en résumé : décevante

My Bottom Line:
Earth-covered sour cherries and heavyset caramel somehow coexist amidst the wild tartness of this rich yet drinkable Sour Ale.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A beautiful mushroom cloud of a head rests atop the muddy reddish brown. A balanced appearance?
-The mouthfeel is quite hefty, which is unusual for the style.
-Light wooden hop bitterness is found within the mostly tart finish.
-There’s lots of suspended matter in this pint. The flavor profile might benefit from some cleaning up (loose filtering?).
-The expansive effervescence enlightens the mouthfeel, which is appreciated.
-The yeast is also earthy and bready; a very expressive strain overall.
-Caramel sweetness surprisingly lingers.

Bottle; thx Dany!!

In short: A weird fruity, spicy, woody, all over the place not-sour ale. Original and almost fun, almost.
How: Bottle 500ml from matt7215, thanks a lot Matt. Consumed very fresh within a week of receiving it
The look: Cloudy dark amber topped by a creamy medium beige head
In long: Nose is cranberries, some extra-ripe fruits and spicy notes resembling cinnamon. Body is grainy, a lot ripe fruit flavours, unsalted pretzels, cherry skin, caramel, dried cherries and some woody notes of cedar and oak. Too sweet for its own good. Finish has a whole lot of leafy hops mixing tea-like leafiness, dry wood and citric astringency. Strong spicy impression with cinnamon and those other spicy flavours you get from spicy hard candies. I find just about every beer from this fine brewery underrated but I’m disappointed by this Vlaams Rood. It’s unfocussed, messy, all over the place and not even a sour ale. Tasty and original enough to get the 3.0 passing grade but that’s about it. A sour Ale? This thing is about as sour as a, I don’t know, something that isn’t sour, like a banana, or maybe a doorknob, most doorknob are not sour aren’t they?

Hazy brown-red with small but thick beige head. Aroma of wet wood, overripe black cherries. Soft mouthfeel. Good palate and low carbonation. Alcohol well-hidden. Finishes very poorly, ruining the entire beer. Pungent and rancid bitterness like fruit pits. The tip of the tongue has a nice fruitiness and the tannin content--much like oversteeped tea--is intriguing and intense, but the whole beer is punctuated by acridity in the back of the tongue. Memorable, but not in a good way.

Reddish-brown and muddy. Balsamic, woody, with a slight red currant fruitiness and brown sugar notes. Tart front gets sweeter but is fairly dirty, like sawdust with some pedio. Alcoholic dryness comes in late. Lots of hop - you get this long, pithy bitterness and some leafy character. Quite an interesting brew, but finishing a pint is way too much work.

Bottle from the brewery (now I’m really frustrated that I didn’t take notes on my vat sample from a couple months back) Pours a murky brown with a fairly persistent head and good lacing. It’s got a slightly hoppy attack followed up nicely by the sour fruityness. The bottle doesn’t quite do it justice compared to (granted my memory of) the vat sample but it is certainly enjoyable. My daughter certainly doesn’t share this sentiment and spat it out all over her shirt but that just left more for me!

500mL bottle, courtesy of matt7215. Thanks, Matt! Pours a murky, golden-brown color; light tan head with patchy lacing. Loads of piney and mineral hops in the aroma, with overripe red fruits; very interesting sour ale aroma; light acidity; nice twist on the normal spectrum of things. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: oily, red fruits, lightly tart citrus acidity, and funked up core malts; lightly tart, vinous character with light tea and tannins; really interesting, hoppy sour ale. Cool beer. Lengthy finish: red fruits, lightly tannic, and lasting tart citrus note.

Cloudy copper colour with decent white head. Aroma is sweet with a yeasty acidicness to it. Flavour is equally sweet with sharp acidic tartness. Decent body. I’d try this again.