Liefmans Cuvée Brut (was: Kriekbier)

Brewed by Liefmans (Moortgat)
Style: Sour Ale
Oudenaarde, Belgium

2007 vintage 375ml bottle $6.99 at the local. Dark red color, decent pink head. It smells nice and sour, cherries, a touch of glue. The flavor was also quite good, serious cherries, sort of sour, hardly any funk. I liked this beer more than I thought I would, I’ll need to find the frambozen next. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 10-06-2009 02:03:01

Bottle, Rehills, Newcastle. Tart and slightly sour, almost a cheek-sucking beer, at first, yet soft on the tongue and fills the mouth with gorgeous fruity goodness. Deeply redddy-purple, with the faintest of pink in the foaming head. Perhaps a touch too dry, but still a cracker.

My bottle is from the ’Kreikbier; labeling before the recent change to ’Cuvée Brut’. Beautiful reddish ruby pour on this beer, with a nice sour cherry nose. The light, dry touch on the palate is very refreshing as the beer develops -- not too sour, not too sweet, not to cherry, surprisingly little acidity -- well balanced all around. I like this beer very much.

Pours a deep dark ruby color with a thin white fizzy head with slight pink hues that quickly fades into a lasting ring. Minimal lacing. I’m happy to say that the color really is dark and doesn’t look like cherry juice. Tart funky aroma with lots of horseblanket and barnyard notes accompanying the sweet sour dark cherry notes. Also, it’s a bit earthy with hints of oak and vanilla and no trace of cloying artificial fruit flavoring. Nicely balanced, with a perfect amount of sweetness from the cherries balancing out the tart funkiness. Earthy with a nice oak presence and pretty sour without being acidic. Lots of nice barnyard funk and a slight nut presence. I could swear that I can taste the cherry pits. Very refreshing with the perfect amount of sour puckering flavor

Pours a nice pinkish brown with a pink head. Aroma is wonderful, mildly funky, plenty of oak, some Irish whiskey, and plenty of tart cherries. Flavor is some sweet almost medicinal cherry, but this seems to be overshadowed by the tart cherry flavors and the overall sourness of the beer. There are slight hints of nuttiness and a bit of oak as well. Delicious even if there is that shade of kool aid lingering.

Bottle cork reads 2.006. Pours a very dark purplish red, clear but too dark to see through, with a smaller dense off-white froth. Aroma is wonderful! Fantastic rich nostril coating oak and sour cherries, endlessly woody, tart but slightly moldy cherries, seems to be a bit more lactic than the last bottle I had 8.5. Flavor is very lactic in this bottle, cherries and yogurt, quite tart and sour, hard candy sweetness, easy drinking, some formaldehyde/sulfur, not as clean as the last bottle I had which is unfortunate. Medium bodied with some corse, slightly chunky, feeling carbonation 3.5.

Rosy pour with an off white head. Lots of floating bits of sediment. Cherries up front on the nose with the tartness of grape following up. Not too pungent, and sits nicely. First taste is very tart and tingles over the palate. Nice sweet flavor sits on the middle of the tongue. Finish has remnants of the sweetness but not as sharp. Also has the slightest hint of alcohol taste on the finish which detracts from the overall. That was the only flaw I could find.

On tap at Wildeman. Purple body. Sweet nose, of grapes. Taste is pure cranberries, with cherry and grape notes. Quite prickly texture. Dry finish.