Rodenbach Redbach

Formerly brewed at Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm)
Style: Fruit Beer
Roeselare, Belgium

Bottle from Super Saver. Deep magenta pour with small pink head. Aroma of cherries and some funky malt notes. The flavor is krieky, sweet, with slight malt and raspberry hints and a medium to light fruity palate.

Lousy flemish sour, decent fruit beer (which is how I’ll rate it). Pours the burgundy / garnet color with a very small partial head that didn’t stick around. The lacing was nil. The aroma was the best part, cherries, some oak. The flavor was cherries first, too much cherry juice, light oak and leather underneath. This avoided the sweet approach of the trendy lambics, but didn’t offer enough tart to balance the cherry juice out. Again, too fruity, without the complexity and smooth mouthfeel that the Liefman’s Kriekbier had.

Sample from the bottle (330 ml) at the Mondial de la Bière in Montreal, 2006. It pours a clear, dark, rather syrupy red with virtually no head....aroma is simple and pleasant, weak cherries and raspberries, rather artiificial and bearing more resemblance to Gummi Bears than the real fruit, but still at least a touch enticing (to my childhood memories)....sweet-tart, juicy body, with very little real sourness, just cherry juice with a touch of sweet apple, pretty much tasting of pasteurized commercial kiddie stuff....artificial and unpleasant though not quite repellant except when considering that this is in essence the "replacement" for Alexander, may he rest in his slumber undisturbed by this childish, cheap, uncivilized interloper...

Bottle. Dull reddish brown beer with a limited cherry aroma and a weak cherry flavour with a spicy end. Overall a bit of a dull kriek.

11.2 oz bottle with a twist off cap - odd to have a Belgium beer, much less Rodenbach with a twist off. Pours deep garnet red with a small pinkish head. Aroma has a toned down version of the original Rodenbach (sourness and vinegar) with hints of cherries. Not nearly as assertive as the original. Medium bodied beer that is quite crisp. There is a semi-sharp carbonation that works with with this style. Taste has a very tart and sweet combo with some light vinegar and dark cherry. Finish is tart and acidic with the cherry coming out strong. A very nice refreshing beer that will be great for summer. A very good beer for what it is - just don’t look for a traditional Flemish sour ale.

Hazy bloody red hue, with a pinkyish head, sweet cherry nose, with an oaky accent, marzipan, hint of vanilla spiciness, balsamic vinegar in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a black cheery marzipan character, hint of sweet chocolate, with a cherryish tart accent, leading towards a sweet candyish cherry and a mild tartness finish.

Bottle into Snifter glass. Pours a lovely cherry red hue with almost no head at all that moves right into hugging the the sides of the glass. Aroma consists of sweet candy (mainly cherry) with a large hint of the classic Rodenbach vinegar smell built into it. Flavor consists highly of cherry sugary candy taste with a smaller hint than to be expected (given the aroma) of the sour vinegar. These two blend well together for a very light, refreshing, and drinkable flemish style.

Robe rouge légèrement voilée surmontée d’une mousse rose mince. Arômes de cerises, de vinaigre balsamique et d’épices. Saveurs de vinaigre balsamique et de fruits rouges.