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

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.

Rated from memory (weakened as it may be...) from two separate sessions involving construction and a growler of this beer. The brewer was a bit surprised that we called it a quaffer. Murky reddish-brown and doesn’t produce much head (especially not in a Harvey’s cup). Lots of cherries and other sort of sour fruits. A bit of funk and some lighter organic acids. Some crystal malt aromas. A bit sour (not nearly as expected), a fair bit of rich, sticky malt and a BIG bitter finish. Not what I would expect from a Sour Ale, but quite unique and pleasing.

Sampled at the brewery. Poured a murky reddish-brown...short lived cap. Aroma of grape skins and musty burlap with a large dose of grains. Taste was rather decent... lots of sour fruit in the front (like sour cherry) grains in the background...sour but not astringent, like a mouthful of Rodenbach mixed with a malty lager. Very vinaceous. The brewer tells me this was frozen to extract some water and was done with the sour mash method using a lacto bacillus...whatever, it is a tasty enough local version of a Flanders sour..very drinkable for this style.

growler fresh from the brewery. i was lucky enough to get one of the 12 growlers of this brew. pours a hazy brownish orange with a small off white head and great soft cabonation. aromas are sour hoppy funk. flavours progress across the palate in this order: sour fruits upfront leads you into a big sweet sticky malt center with a big bitter hop punch finish. after you swallow these waves of flavours keep passing over your palate. extremely complex and challenging. i can best descibe this brew as a hoppy sour ale eisbock. there is nothing else out there like this one and im happy i got the chance to partake in this wonderful creation. Grand River Brewing Rocks!

RBSG09 bottle at the grand tasting courtesy of IrishBoy. Pours dark orange with a huge beige head. Tart cherry pit aroma, slight vinegar, slight metallic note. Flavor is vinous with tart cherry juice and yeast. Interesting but not great by any means.

I had no idea what this was when i saw it on the menu at Volo. When i asked and found out it was a sour red i immediately added it to the sampler i was trying. The aroma was okay actually it had that nice sour funky aroma to it. I could smell a lot of sweetness to this one. The flavor was a litle suprising. I am usually a fan of sours but this one just turned me off big time. I could not drink it without making a face and that was not because it was too sour. It was not really all that sour at all. It had this weird tang to it that I couldnt handle and neither could my girlfriend. Between the 2 of us we could not even finish a 150 ml sample. It was a good try and it showed some promise but it was just not for me.

Wow! Coppery red with a small head on top, lots of berry (loganberry?) in the nose and citrus, some wood. One would never expect the astringent hop punch that comes from it. A bit of yeast and alcohol, some slight sourness and lots of leafy hops. Amazing quality and very rare.