Rodenbach Alexander

Thanks to goldtwins for a bottle of this. I live ina college town with no good beer bars, and as most of you would guess I do not enjoy "chugging swill" that they serve at the bars. So what was my solution? I smuggled a 1990 something (not sure of the vintage) bottle of this wonderful elixir into one of the crappiest little bars that only serve BMC. Man was this beer awesome! The aroma mostly a vinegar/balsmic vinegar with some cherries and a little oak...but it was kinda hard to tell since it was so smoking in the bar. The flavor is what really did me in with this beer. It was outstanding! Most flemish sours I have had are a little too puckering sour, but this one was just perfect with a little touch of sour, some oak, lots of cherries and even a little grape juice flavor...maybe reminiscent of a good wine? It was the perfect meld of sweet and sour without either one dominating the other. This stuff was great. My mouth was watering for another sip every time I finished taking a taste of it. I WANT CASES OF THIS STUFF!

At De Heeren van Liedekercke, 1992 bottle with the label falling apart. Clear ruby body below a thin layer of big bubbles. Intense aroma, smells like opening an oak chest containing a cherry pie. Strong barrel character, like licking the inside of an old beer barrel. Sour cherries dipped in toffee. Alexander The Great #2.

25cl - Aroma of sour cherries, red wine vinegar, and vidallia onion. Pours transparent ruby red with small head and slight lacing. Flavor is very sour cherries with a sweet and tart aftertaste. Thankfully no oinion. Palate is tart and creamy. A little past it’s prime, but still tasty.

When I entered De Heeren van Liedekercke, I knew what I wanted. I sat down with the beer list, to be polite, examined it rapidly noticing that the object of my desire was nowhere to be found, got up again, walked to the bar with a knowing air and asked if the Rodenbach Alexander was available. The barmaid, whom I later found out to be the co-owner Jessi, smiled and said she would check the cellar. She reappeared with a radiant expression carefully holding the lower neck of the bottle in one hand, and between the thumb and index of the other, a molted face of its label. Clasping my hands in assuagement, I returned to my seat and was delivered in its congruous wide-mouthed snifter, the beer, along with its bottle and the discarded part of its gold-trimmed label. The paper seemed to disintegrate with a mere poke, but barring the dust and cobwebs its colors were still vivid, 14 years after bottling.

Thick and crystalline, the liquid glowed of a cherry wood color carved like a gem in its orbicular glass. A thin layer of off-white cream produced burbling bubbles with fantastic adhesion. It takes one brief sniff to realize the grandeur of Rodenbach’s magnum opus. A single inhalation however, would be torture beyond the most painful methods. In a background of dusty garret scents, freshly baked cherry pie appears with a sweet eruption of toffee, brown sugar and cinnamon. The candy-like, almost Twizzleresque cherry aroma is sustained by a contrastingly natural sensation added to the slight twang of apple and oak. Further complexity emerges from the weathered ambience lent by dry Parmesan cheese and whole wheat bread. It takes a significant effort to properly appreciate such a heavenly aroma without succumbing to the temptation of absorbing it in one big gulp. Inevitably, I take a sip, and I’m beyond any utopia. The texture appears first in all its velvety glory, smooth, soft and sweet; the deflated carbonation renders this nectar above any avatar of beer while its sticky but dry cherry sourness coats the palate and mind assiduously, lingering even as I write this review weeks after the encounter. The wet sweetness of caramel and brown sugar is flawlessly balanced with the fruit and vanilla oak flavors. There’s a primal aspect about this beer that strikes me in its coalescing complexity, an unusually perfect equilibrium that retains genuine identity. This beer transcends all the others I’ve had - why, oh why, did Rodenbach stop?

A Mes rate: 1998 25cl bottle from De Heeren Van Liedekerke.
God how I love Rodenbach, God how amazing this beer is. Aroma is unbelievable. Can pick out the cherries and the sour ale seperately and quite clearly. There is just a hint of alcohol in there and dust plus some wooden notes. Obviously you can sense a bit of age in there but this has not suffered at all. Appearance is a real novelty. Like a slightly more translucent Rodenbach with a definite red/mahogany hue. The real novelty is the tan head. Most unusual on a beer that has such a strong cherry character. Head? Yes I kid you not. 8 years past its sell by date and it still has a glorious chunky head. Nice lace too. Another thing I was surprised by was the total lack of floaters. Sooooooo smooth in the mouth. Palate is unreal considering its age. I don’t recall this from the last time I had it but the cherries are clear as day. Not quite so tart and sour as Rodenbach but with just the right amount of funk. (I guess it would mellow a little with age anyway). Obvious cinnamon is there, in a Glukriek type way. None of the age is really that apparent in the flavour apart from a faint musky wooden character but it is no way as strong as I would have expected. So very very special. Finish is sublime. Just a quick hit of sour and then bitter and finally settling on fantastic dry cherries. I really can’t believe what outstanding condition this is in considering it is 8 years past it’s sell by. A very fitting 600th rate for us. I’m in heaven.

big thanks to Mike EDA for sharing this at the belgian room on st marks place. cloudy rusty brownish color. aroma is cherries in carmelized cane sugar, sweet aged balsalmic vinegar. flavor is very sweet cherry, almost like cherry vinegar. only mildly tart. faint tart finish. legendary!

I have waited so long to try this beer, and I can say that I am definitely not dissapointed. The pour was a very dark brown with red hues. I got brown sediment specks falling into the bottle. The head was tan. Aroma was great--cherries, of course, sourness, and some earthiness as well. The flavor is simply amazing. The taste is definitely sour cherries, but you get a shot of a sort of smoked flavor in the finish. The mouthfeel is very creamy and not too thin which is nice. Amazing beer.

1992 vintage, bottle into Rodenbach glass, Heeren van Liedekerke. Crystal clear ruby amber with off-white dusting of a head that extends its dense lacing up the side. Smell: is this a barley wine? Sensuous aroma of brown sugar and plums soaking in port wine and chocolate sauce, mixed in with a bit of the warm alcohol and cherry I was expecting to smell. The smell reminds me of Samichlaus too, in the chocolate and port elements. This bodes well, friends. The flavor: never has a beer had a more perfect warm cherry taste. Even after 14 years, this tastes fresh, like I plucked a cherry from a tree in the Garden of Eden; it’s still sweet, though not as sweet as it would be if fresh in the real world; it’s tart, but not sour. Everything in perfect balance, with sweetness and tartness only accents to the warmness of the fruit flavor itself. Wonderful. Tartness intensifies to low-level sourness right before and after the swallow, when the cherry flavor gets darker and mixes with chocolate on the sides of the mouth; there’s also a yeasty layer of soft bitterness, like a darker and chewier version of brett, which adds to the Samichlaus impression (because of the chewiness and it’s vaguely plumy character). Finish is a lingering sweet and sour cherry that’s only a little dry. Glittering gliding layer of lace not too sticky, but leaves an archipelago on the side when it does stick. Racing is quick but deep. I don’t know how anyone could think this isn’t delicious. Almost better than dope. Really close.