Rodenbach Alexander

04.10.05 All too small bottle thanks to EDA. Deep redtoned brown pour like cherry wine made in 2002. Voluminous khaki head slowly fades leaving lazy pillows of lace about the glass like cloud animals. Aroma is sour, cherries, woody, calvados. Brutally sour first sip is awash in fresh cherries, early season, just picked. Lots of wood, caramel. It’s clean, dry, astringent to a fault to finish. It’s excellent but makes me thirsty for more. Thanks for this special treat, Mike!

Oh how I have been waiting to try this beer. I was going to try it a few weeks back in celebration of the re-discovery of the <a href=http://www.ivorybill.org>Ivory-billed Woodpecker but I had a horrid cold. So now I drink it in celebration of a milestone totally unrelated to beer and instead to birds, namely I saw my 200th life bird today, a Nashville Warbler, in my yard no less. What a beautiful bird.

Thanks to both CaptainCougar and Eyedrinkale who each sent me a bottle on a trade. One for now, one for later.

Clear brownish red with a small but lasting foamy light tan head. The aroma is all Rodenbach. The aroma exhibits tons of vinegar, cherry, and hints of wood, though it has clearly faded out a good bit over the years. Not a hugely complex aroma but very pleasing nonetheless. The flavor is dominated by cherries; even the vinegar takes a back seat. It is much sweeter than I expected, the acidity is really tempered by the sweetness. There is some puckering but it melds with the thick sweetness to produce a very interesting sensation in the mouth. Medium-full body, flavors are around long after the swallow. A great beer, and a travesty that it is no longer produced.

Enchanting ruby in color with a firm, well-densed head of light mocha that shows spotty lacing. Very fruity and strongly vinous aroma with a huge dose of cherry puree, along with a light hint of wood. Flavor is absolutely bursting with cherry goodness, while remaining lightly vinous, lightly acidic and extremely complex. Beautiful intermixing of sweet and sour flavors, with an underlying hint of red apple. Just a beautiful beer.

(Bottle 25 cl) Strange brews they are the sophisticated Rodenbachs, but very nice experiences when you get used to them. But after a tour and a tasting at Rodenbach I certainly did. Light brownish with a reddish tint, very beautiful indeed. Quite acidic, perhaps a tiny hint of fruit sugars and not that much hops. A very complex beer - pity it’s retired. 060693

Dark madiera, mahonganey color. Head leaves a creamy and sudsy off-white ring around the glass with thin and faint dusty touches in center of glass. Aroma brings cherries inside of an malty alcohol soaked wood barrel. Flavor is sour, but not agressively sour. Middle turns into some slightly oxidized brown sugar sweet but cherry tart wood, along with some tart concord grapes sweetened with slight apples. Some dry cherry stems in finsh. Extremely slight prickly carbonation on the tongue... but just enough to keep it real. Its otherwise very smooth and full of flavor and excellently balanced.

Bottle at Bier circus: Pours redbrown, with a thin white head. It smells intensly of fresh cherries, with just a hint of sourness. Taste is fresh cherries, with notes of almonds, long sweet after taste

Bottle from Eyedrinkale. Red-copper color. Decent white head. Sour cherry aroma. For some reason smells of model airplane glue. Tart and refreshing. Slight sweetness balances tartness quite nicely. Nice Flemish Sour!

Deep dark red color with a thin white head. Sour cherry aroma and airplane glue?(thanks steve) Sour cherry taste which was so wonderful and some malts, and just a hint of oak. This was really good. I want to get some more.