Ichtegems Grand Cru

Brewed by Brouwerij Strubbe
Style: Sour Ale
Ichtegem, Belgium

Bottle at home. Hazy red brown coloured with a medium sized beige head. Ligyt acidic aroma of caramel, red wine, oak and glue. Light acidic flavour of red wine with notes of oak and vanilla. Tart finish.

Bottle (cellphone rating). Cola coloured with off white head. Nose of wood, sourness, ripe fruit and dark sugar. Sweet flavour of dark fruit, wood, tobacco, vanilla, some berries with sourness. A dry bitterness and well carbonated.

33 cl bottle, bougth at Ølkonsortiet, Aalborg. Reddish brown color, fine off-white head. Aroma has fine sourness and oak/wood. Flavor is fruity, fine sweetness and has a very moderate sourness. Nice one.

A sweet, pleasing Flanders Red. This beer pours a brownish red color with a better than expected off-white head. The aroma is sweet and sour cherries with a touch of malt. The flavor is similar with a medium-light vinegar kick. My score is dropping as I go through my glass, which is never a good sign. There’s a somewhat cloying syrupy character to the beer. I’m not good enough at beer tasting to tell if it’s back-sweetened, but it tastes that way to me. If this beer was bone dry and a lot oakier, I’d like it a whole lot more. As is, the sweet cherry flavor is growing acrid on my palate. It’s not a bad beer, but I prefer a bit less sweet in my sours.

Served with very little head and no lace. Color is a dark, cloudy brown with some reddish highlights. Maybe a little light struck: some burnt rubber/skunk. Flavor’s not quite as skunky as aroma and I get some of the nice tart malt with fruit in the background. Had another bottle of this here recently and it was much better - no skunk. Good mouth and carbonation. Skunk’s gone at the end. Good finish. No sense of the alcohol at all. I’d try another.

Bottle into snifter. Really dark read pour that proves clear if held to light. Very light khaki head that fades to a ring pretty fast. Nice roma, but not to style. This is no flemish red. No sourness. Vanilla, oaky, sweat malt (almost as if some brown belgian candi sugar is in there). Flavor is not good. Soyish, watery, sweet, off or old belgian candi sugar. Medium bodied with medium to light carbonation. Overall: overpriced and deceptive given its proclaimed style.

Bottle. Pours a barely clear dark ruby brown with a medium to large dense lightly tanned beige head. Wine cork, light fruit, grapes, a bit of funk and must. Medium bodied, sweet and tasting a bit like a fruit soda…nothing like what the aromas had me anticipating. Almost no acidity, or funky bite. Little bit of almost a chocolate flavor, mostly towards the end of the finish. A bit chalky and dry.

Pours a deep crimson with an airy beige head. The nose does not suggest any sourness, only sweet red fruits and light malts. The flavour is initially sweet pear, plum and other red fruits (possibly candied), fading into some corn syrupy malts, and very mild tartness. The finish is short-lived and artificially fruity and toffee-like, maybe caramel. The carbonation is a bit on the soft side, but the texture is silken and rather nice, despite the watery finish.