Grand River Ploegers Vlaams Rood

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

Orange-copper in colour with a white coloured head and excellent lacing. The aroma is lightly sour, some acidity, yeast and light cherries. The flavour has a mild sweetness from the cherries, must, yeasty with an acidic tartness coming up the back. Lightly sour mouthfeel, medium/light body, moderate carbonation. Finishes lingering with some cherries and peaches.

This is pretty good stuff. Its a bit rough still but a new chapter in Ontario brewing for sure.

Draught at Volo in Toronto, Ontario.
March 22, 2008.

On tap at Volo, 3/08.
Reddish cloudy orange body, head is tan with a bit of ruby. Nose is orangey hops and sour funk. The sourness isn’t quite balsamic - more lemon pith. Some sweetness remains in the aroma, giving the impression of brown sugar. Plastic notes too. Flavor is quite bitter up front with a strange sour fruitiness. That sourness yields to the bitterness as it travels down my tongue. Fruit is definitely present - apples, pits, blood oranges.
Very bitter finish with some lemon seed sourness. The combination of hops and sour in the finish remind me a bit of a fresh Cantillon Iris.
This is a very strange beer. Its good. But confused. I wonder what this would have tasted like were it brewed exactly the same but with aged (or very low AA) hops rather than with the Plowman ale base.
That question aside, this is perhaps the first really exciting beer I’ve had from an Ontario brewery. There are some damn fine beers being brewed in ON today (such as John By & Denisons Weiss) but this one stands out as something unique. Cheers to Grand River - may they continue experimenting & influence others in the Province to do the same.

a canadian flemish sour .. weird eh.. . honey and red wine, cherry aromas .. . great lacing, pours a murky rose .. .big tartness, crazy aftertaste and mouth .. . like no other beer i have had .. . mouthcoating .. . weird fuckin stuff, enjoyably odd .. . : add cherries, this could be epic!!

This sour ale, frozen not once, but to my understanding , twice, is a rare treat. A sour ale with Eis-bock qualities. I’ve had this a few times, but the latest was on cask at the Winking Judge. It poured a murky, tan, almost brindle, with a slight white foam ringing the rim of the glass, that surprisingly leaves good lace. The aroma is quite vinous (white grapes), lots of wood, sherry, over-ripe fruit (in an enjoyable sense), and is full of funky, barnyard Brett like aromas. The flavour profile is like sour grapes upfront, lots of wet hay,cherries, yeasty and tart, with just hints of white wine vinegar, then vanilla and milk chocolate sweetness lingering upfront. The finish is assertive with the alcohol, which makes this all the more pleasant. I can still taste the tart grapes after 10 minutes. WONDERFUL!!! This is the absolute fullest bodied sour I have had. This brewery simply amazes me every time! Thanks Rob, Dave, and crew for crafting such great beer!

Ill hook up from Irish Boy @ RBSG’09 Grand Tasting, 500mL bottle. The appearance is muddy thick red with a sticky khaki head. The beer is light aceto with light earthy vegetal. Not so vegetal in the flavor but more than just musky malts. This is not so different in certain Flanders Red style beers. A bit corny and musky at the same time. Has a nicely thicker body with a tingling carbonation. Works well, nothing spectacular but cool and decent stuff.

had at volo, nice brew as was said murky reddish color, some creamy beige head, nose was odd, resin sour cherry and acidic. flavor again was slightly resin, some mineral, malts, some acidic backbone characteristics. Good brew.

500 ml bottle, 11/08. Fuzzy dark brown with a frothy beige head. Nose is mushrooms, earth, faint grapes, raisins and cooked cabbage. Medium to full bodied with a spoiled fruit tang. Not sure what kind of brew this is; feels like an old ale, amber but not a sour. Taste is plums, cinnamon, toffee, cherry juice and white grape. Actually quite nice. Off notes of bitter greens and cardboard dominate the dry finish detracting from what is probably a good beer when fresh.

Bottle - thanks to Tupalev, thanks Jeff! Pours a murky brown with a small cream head. Aroma: Blackcurrant, wheat, some sour-malt, allspice and melon. Lovely. Flavour: Malty, coffee, bready, some blackcurrant in the finish. Very very enjoyable.