Liefmans Goudenband

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

Concerned to read this described as ’Beer containing sugar and sweeteners’ on the wrapper. Weighty burgundy with creamy tan legs. Juicy cherry stone tartness on the nose, with wood, malt vinegar and caramel. Sweet-sour with some lurking notes of chocolate. Sticks around with a fragrant breadiness after the swallow. Surprisingly mellow and malty. Alcohol beautifully disguised. An enticingly complex beer with a bum note of chemical sweetener.

Bottle. Pours rich, hazy brown with amber highlights. Excellent lacing all the way down the glass. Tart cherries and vinegar aroma. A hint of grape Kool-Aid. Mildly sour. Quite pungent. Sweet grapeness on the palate. Some yeasty dryness but a perfect balance of sweet and sour. Medium to full bodied. Creamy mouthfeel. A beautiful Flemish sour.

Bottle. Pours a hazy brown color with a thin beige colored head. Aroma is tart fruit, vineous, malt, earthy. Flavor is tart fruits, vineous, malt, earth. Palate is medium bodied, medium carbonation, finishes dry and tart. Not one of my favorites, decent but doesn’t hold a candle to the betterFlemish Sours.

Dark, hazy brown with a medium , tan head. Notes of spices, fruit and malt. Sour with some sweetness and fruit taste. medium body with a bitter finish.

Poured from a 2006, 375ml bottle – cork removed with a loud “pop”. Cloudy dark brown pour, medium sized frothy tan head. Aroma is yeasty, spicy, and earthy with a bit of mild lemony citrus. Light, crisp palate with fizzy feeling carbonation. Flavor starts slightly malty and the sour lemon-like flavor kicks in. Reminds me of a sweet-tart, nice!

750ml 2004 Bottle Pouts out a murky brown topped with a little baby ring of a head. A great fruit aroma of sweet apples and spice. Tast is pretty good a little sweet and spice. Not bad but not great. thanks indiana_red.

Bottle Caged and corked 750ml pours a murky light brown. Small skin of a "head" with spotty lacing. Nice sweet and sour aroma of over ripe pears apples and raisons. Apple butter. Flavor is a rather dissapointing sour apple a bit metallic. Thin fizzy and lacking is character. Tastes like it used to be something special. I love this style but this is a bit of a let down. Give me "The Duchesse" any day.

9-5-07 Malty aroma, for some reason it smells like a dopplebock? Rich malts, molasses, very sweet smelling. Pours dark brown with reddish sides, no head, besides the pop of the cork there’s no detectable carbonation. Sour cherries, spicy, big malt flavor, sour apples with molasses. There is no carbonation, not that’s a bad thing. But this isn’t my favorite flemish sour. 11-5-09 Sweet caramelly nose with hints of funk and raspberry. Pours a rich amber brown with no head. Smooth sourness with a hefty maltiness, rich caramel and hints of tart berries, somewhat sweet but just enough tartness to balance it out. Very good!