Kasteel Kriek

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck
Style: Fruit Beer
Ingelmunster, Belgium

I loved this beer. It’s wonderfully strong flavours are sour and tart, one of the most crisp beers I’ve had. It’s very sour and extremely fruity, super fruity. Will buy again.

Pours a warm red cola brown with a quickly diminishing pink head. Big brash cherry nose. Sweet and round with just a hint of tart and some suggestion of fruity sour beer notes. Very light acidity. Light smalled bubbled body, easy to drink. Sweet with strong cherry notes. A bit sour to tart, from the fruit, with more than a passing resemblance to Liefman’s Kreik. Bigger alcohol. Some astringency, maybe tannic, maybe from the cherries? Acidity like a cola lingers!

It’s hard to rate this as a beer. The cherry flavor is too strong to taste the beerieness to this. That being said, this beer smells like fresh cherries, pours a nice shade of purple/red, and tastes great. Almost like a cherry wine would taste, but there is plenty of sweetness left in the mix also. For an alcoholic fruit drink, this would probably be aces across the board, since I was rating a beer, not so much.

Cool looking beer with a distinctive red color, reddish head, and a delightful aroma of cherry wood. Only knock is that it became slightly bitter but this was an enjoyable beer.

11.2oz bottle, "Kasteel Rouge", courtesy of hopscotch. Thanks, Eric! Pours a deep burgundy color, like black cherry juice; light pink head with medium-sized bubbles retained at the edges; patchy lacing. Strong, sweet aroma of cherry juice, black cherries, and sugar water; generous cherriness, but to the point of being cherry juice perfume. Medium mouthfeel: upfront is cherry juice and black cherries pits, the slightest tartness, but the mid-palate is lacking any significant contributing belgian character; a better commercial description would be "cherry juice w/ belgian ale and cherries added", or just "cherry juice." But good cherry juice. Medium finish, showing red fruits and a touch of dough (for me: the first and only hint of a belgian ale lurking underneath).

On tap at PP C-Bad under the Kasteel Rouge banner.Dark red color with very little head. Nose of cherry and more cherry. Flavors of sweet cherry and bit of tartness. Minimal alcohol perception. Almost like drinking a glass of cherry juice. Very good if you are into it. Not alot of complexity though.

Everything about this beer is distinct. It looks like Roddy Grand Cru in the goblet, but with a nice frothy head. Smells like a cherry soda, and tastes like a soft microbrewed cherry soft drink. Mouthfeel is thick and delicious like a homebrewed soda pop. Finish is dry with a strange bitterness. This is the only beer I’ve had at 8% that is actually quite easy to chug.

Bottled as "Kasteel Rouge", 33 cl (BB 05/2009)
Dark ruby/cherry red color, small red-pinky head. Deep cherry juice aroma with alcholic notes. Acidic cherry juice, strong warming alcohol in the finish. Less sweetness than in many cherry beers. Kriek on drugs. Simple but straightforward.