Grand River Ploegers Vlaams Rood

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

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!!

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.

Bottle, thanks to WeeHeavySD for sharing! Pours a murky orange-brown with a small off-white head. Tart aroma, lots of yeast and citrus, with malt and sugar. Taste is very sour, with a lot of malt and yeasty funk, with a hint of fruit. Lingering sour funk. Weird but decent.

Aroma is strong fruit, beets also, murky reddish brown, almost zero head. Flavour is a full pit fruit,again a hint of beets,. Well balanced, quite dry. Very good.I think it could benefit from some time in a wooden barrel.

Okay, I’m going to be completely fair and rate this one by how it tasted to me at the time of me drinking it. As it turns out, I have some weird intolerance of either Brett or sour ales in general. My body rejected this stuff pretty severely and I was up all night, vomiting up everything but my internal organs. Anyways, sorry but I had to include that, pours a deep, hazy burgundy red, with a small head. Aroma: Classic GRB hops, with somewhat of a malt backbone, and some sourness. Taste: 50/50. First half is like a spicy version of the Plowman’s Ale, then the second half is powerfully sour, very lactic tasting, reminiscent of some very stinky, strong cheeses (flavours I would become quite well acquainted with later that night). I’ve never had a beer that resembled sweet and sour sauce more than this one. I mean that in a good way, sort of. I really can’t have this one ever again, but I’m glad I could try it once, and kudos to the brewery for trying something completely different for the Ontario beer scene. I just wish my stomach hadn’t been so unimpressed.

A dark lightly hazed brown ale wutg a thick moka head. Aroma is rather herbal, catnip, spices and earthy. In mouth, a very malt ale with strong hopping, herbaceous, italian herbs,a bit metallic, but not to style, as it is missing the lactic notes, the sour cherries. This is veering on an herbal old ale, not a Flemish sour. Still, a nice rich ale. Thanks to Probstk for bringing me this.

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...

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.