Lindemans Kriek

Brewed by Brouwerij Lindemans
Style: Lambic - Fruit
St Pieters Leeuw-Vlezenbeek, Belgium

Dark red beer with a red head. A distinct aroma of cherries with a tart cherry taste amd plenty a carbonation.

Reddish pour with red/white head. Nose of cherry with some flowering bud nose. Flavor is somewhat sour at first that mellows out to sweet cherry flavor. NIce bubble texture and finish.

Poured from a 12 oz bottle to a pilsner glass. Aroma is mostly sweet cherry, with a light bread twist. The head is creamy, pink in color, and fairly thick, diminishing to thin but sustained. Color is deep red with some brown observable. Clarity is clear. The beer is filtered so no yeast is visible. Texture is light, but slightly syrupy. Flavor proceeds from sour to very sweet to sour aftertaste. The cherry flavor doesn’t last long but the sourness sure does. I prefer fruit lambics to be musty or tart, not so sweet. Hence, I usually enjoy only two or three bottles of this beer per year.

Bottle. (Taste comparison with Hanssens Oude Kriek.) I first tasted the Hanssens which left a really sour taste in my mouth and caused me to instantly become parched. So, I thought I’d quench my thirst with some cherry soda. I cracked this open and poured it. It pours a nice cherry red with a fizzy pink head. I took a big whiff and sensed some maraschino cherries. Oh the sweet artificial medicinal aroma of maraschino cherries. Even better, it tasted of artificial and medicinal cherries. YUM! And a thirst quencher! Oh wait, this isn’t soda?

Bottle-This is not the typical style of beer I go for, but I have always wanted to try a lambic. I’m glad I did! This beer has real personality. A nice frothy pinkish head, with good lacing. The aroma is a sweet cheery with a slight hint of malt. A nice sweet cherry flavor with a wine like finish. Kind of a watery body to it, but I can let that go. Overall a very nice beer. Very refreshing.

Bottle pours a deep reddish copper with a very thin pinkish-white head that quickly diminishes. Aroma of sour cherries. Taste is also of tart cherries with a lingering sweetness.

Finally, I’ve talked myself into shelling out the five spot and change for a single bottle. I let this, my first official Lambic, be a reward for completing the paver patio in my backyard. After a wonderful pasta dinner prepared by yours truly, I broke out the bottle and poured into a wide tumbler glass. Ruby red color with a fluffy pink head that stuck around. Thick blankets of lace surrounded the glass and there was a very minimal amount of carbonation and I do mean minimal. Aroma intensified as it warmed producing a captivating scent of dry semi-sweet cherries, tons of them in fact. Sour wheat with a papery stale quality, interesting and not offsetting in the least. The beer is relatively flat on the palate. Sweet and tart with the fruit and malt. Light and lively with a nice easy feeling. This is different than anything I’ve had to date, yet it is along the lines of what I was sort of expecting. Cherry candy with some strawberry flavor as well. Dry tart malt that seems stale, yet curiously intriguing. Not as complex as I thought it would be, but still very flavorful. I was hoping for more of a sour funky aspect to the beer and not so much of the sweet fruitiness but I still enjoyed it Glad I finally decided to sample one of these, but the price will likely make this a one and out brewer for me.

(Draught at Hörnan Belgobar, Stockholm) Dark red colour with frothy pink head. Fruity nose with clean and fresh cherry notes and hints of almond. Fruity taste with sweet cherry notes and hints of almond. Ok, it is a bit too sweet and not very traditional, but still, served cold on a warm summer day, it really is quite nice and refreshing.