Petrus Aged Pale

Brewed by Bavik-De Brabandere
Style: Sour Ale
Harelbeke, Belgium

ZBF 2008: Light yellow with a decent white head. Aroma of lactic tartness, wood, and starfruit. Some sugar. Grapefruit and some vinous character. Flavor is tart with wheat and some acid. Green apple, starfruit, and other tart summer fruits. Somewhat simple flavor profile but quite solid. Slight metallic on the back end.

Bottle, 7.3%. Acidic aroma, lactic. Clear golden colour, nice stable white head. The flavour is also acidic, distinctly, but not overwhelming. Has a good, satiating acidity. Actually quite good.

330ml bottle (alko - via mirjukka - thanks!)
Clear amber with a healthy tight pale head. Light fruit sweetness and sourness. Soft and sour on the tongue. Bursting with refreshing light malty tastes before you even swallow, and a very pleasant sourness that zings on the tongue, and builds up to be the major flavour after swallowing. The light malt character is very mellow, but I can’t actually pinpoint the oak in the aging that this is usually a sign of. The finish is in part quite dry, but not drying, and otherwise more of the mellow light malts. And no hint of 7.3% - fantastic - I’d session this without a second thought! A few acidic esters stop this from really excelling, but it is a very tasty beer on the whole.

33cl bottle. Pours hazy and deep, orange-gold with a thin, off-white head. The aroma is quite sour. It has some sweetness as well as an earthy and medicinal note. Impressions of sour apples and crystallized ginger run amok. The flavor is very dry - quite reminiscent of a very dry white wine or champagne. There are some sour notes, too - slightly acetic, unsweetened lemon juice. There are other influences, too - particularly oak. There is little hop, yeast, or malt character here (except the sour notes from wild yeast or bacteria). The finish is extremely dry. The beer’s texture and acidity combine to form astringency everywhere, leaving the mouth completely dry afterwards. The texture is medium in body and well carbonated - but it leaves a creamy feeling, unlike champagne. I am not a particularly big fan of dry champagne, and that seems to translate in my not particularly enjoying this either. What a shame...

bottle. pours a hazy honey color with a somewhat thin white head that fades to a film relatively quickly, but leaves a nice lacing. lots of sour fruit in the nose, mostly cherry and lemon, a bit of white grapes, some woody notes, and a lingering almost cheesy funk in the background. a bit of caramelly malt chilling in the background. a fairly strong white wine taste, with further notes of lemon and cherry and oak. quite vinous, and combined with the dry finish and the abundance of bubbles, i would say quite champaigne-like. light body, and a nice tart finish, for a sensation that could only be described as quenching. i could drink this stuff all day. not the best for pure sourness, and i like duchess more for complexity and malt character, but this is undeniably good. the word "quenching" keeps coming to mind. i could drink this all day.

Cloudy orangey gold with a huge honey coloured head. Sour fruit aroma (sour grape, sour apple). Very sour palate, citrus, apple, oak, tart finish. Refreshing-- gets the salivary glands flowing!

33 cl bottle on 2/5/2008. Faintly hazy bright gold pour with a medium, but fading, white head with little lace. Sour citrus aroma with a bit of funkiness to it as well. Notes of honey and green apples add to the mix. Lots of effervescence from the medium body, quite acidic, leaving a squeaky clean palate. Sour fruity flavors take over, with just a hint of underlying sweetness. Very refreshing dry finish.

Bottle. Shared with Nosiriwont. Pours a golden colour with a medium white head. The aroma is sour and fruity with some sweetness. Soft sweet sour and fruity dry flavour. Sour dry finish.