Grand River Ploegers Vlaams Rood

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

500 ml bottle courtesy of Harry! Thanks! Nose of tartness with slight funk, and woodiness. Cloudy rust with a big beige head. Flavor was very funky with moderate tartness.

[1210-20080319] Tap. Apricot lychee fruity malt aroma has a bit of sour mango thrown in too. Murky, red brown body with a medium-lasting foamy light tan-green head. Tropical apricot mango continues in flavour with sour malty earth. Medium body is fairly sour. Interesting to try, very fruity.
(@ Volo; Toronto, ON)

Growler, from the brewery, thanks to my buddy Jay.Dark dirty brown appearance, small white head. Aroma is quite malty with a little bit of sourness. Taste is really interesting - sour up front but there is a ton of malt sweetness here and some pretty intense bitterness. I’m not sure if these three flavours - sour, bitter, sweet - work all that well together when they are dialed up this high to be honest. And while the alcohol is not terribly noticeable, it will keep this one in the "sipping" category. A really neat experiment with tons of flavour, I’m just not sure I would want to have it again...

Bottle : The aroma has notes of moderate smoke, oak, yeast, very faint cherry, and a hint of vinegar. It pours a dark hazy amber with a small soapy off-white head. The flavor starts with very faint cherry. That quickly gets dominated by smoke, oak, and very bitter floral hops. Sour cherry is really hidden in the background. Floral hops and smoke are way too over the top and dominate for a Sour Ale in my opinion. Light bodied with mild carbonation. If I rated to style this would score even lower.

Bottled on 4/18/2008? The beer pours to a deeply hazy ruby body with a cream of wheat looking head. The aroma is sweet and sour rhubarb with some light funk. The flavor is a vile bitter orange/grapefruit peel. This was awful. Very bitter and not good. We drain poured most of the bottle.

Cask at Volo & draught (growler) at Pepperwood Beer Festival. I had this on cask at Volo at the same time as blankboy, and as he notes, it was perhaps a bit past it’s prime, but was still a very unique and interesting brew. Hazy ruby-brown with very thin layer of off-white bubbles. Aroma of sour cherry, a bit of mulled wine, and hops - more hops that I expected. Body is very soft. Flavour has a mild sourness off the top, a sudden aggressive bitterness from the hops, and then more sourness coming through in the finish, although it still doesn’t overtake the hops. A couple of days later, I had the draught version, and found the appearance and aroma to be pretty similar, but the sourness was definitely more prominent, with the hops playing second fiddle - but still stronger than you’d expect from the style. On-style or not, it’s some damn good stuff!

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.

Bottle: Poured a deep clear red color ale with a huge foamy head with good retention and good lacing. Aroma consists of notes of funk with some very light oak. Taste is also a mix between some light tart notes with some funk. Interesting experiment but lacking some of the sour and tart notes that I enjoy so much in the style but I also applaud the brewer who is swilling to try this style.