Rodenbach Vin de Céréale

Brewed by Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm)
Style: Sour Ale
Roeselare, Belgium

Bottle, Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fà, Rome, Italy. Light golden. Mildly aromatic, with hardly any depth, some sour fruits. Mild malts, some sourness. Not sweet like the grand cru. Very little depth, not alive. Ok taste. A bit dull. Just an ok beer.

Bottle, from Fin. This is a stunning gift mate! Rating 1001. Tasted back in early April 08. Unwrapped the paper to reveal this great little unadorned bottle--already the anticipation is set for something good. The beer seems to have it’s own moon-glow inside the pale green bottle. Pours a delicate peach with just a scattered rim of white. First smells are lovely old sherry: almonds, golden raisins, very sweet and dewy. With some warmth and swirling, musky cherry preserves and the buttery warmth of fresh shortbread. Softly tart cinnamon-infused plum flavor, bright and refreshing as fresh squeezed lemonade, but with a dusky old sherry cask playing in the fringes. Then, in the very end of the swallow, comes an intense toasted bread character, like an entire fresh crusty baguette concentrated and placed in one drop onto the tongue. (I can feel the toasty yeasty warmth fill my mouth, my nose, exhaling like cloud of smoke.) Then as dramatically as it made it’s entrance, it gracefully departs, returning in a more supporting role, further into the background, in subsequent sips. Delicate mouthfeel that embellishes the soft full tartness. Just a faint sparkle in the finish, stars in a dawn sky. Amazing. Never had anything like it. This is a perfect beer to start my next 1000 ratings: it is brilliant to find, even having tasted my way around a bit now, that there are still things like this to be discovered.

Bottle # 6001. 2004 vintage. Small fizzy white head that mostly diminished. Spare oily like lacework. Lovely golden / amber glowing color. Aroma was quit complex with notes of sweet and sour fruit, yeast, vinegar, wood, white wine like, strange feel of popcorn and vine gum, hint of alcohol and citrus. Full bodied with an average carbonation and very dry texture. Moderated to heavy acidic flavor with good counter sweetness. Lingering dry and vinegar / fruity finish. Excellent Sour Ale!

(Bottle, 2004 vintage) Pours a clear golden body with a spare white quickly diminishing head. Aroma of horse blanket, sour apple, oak, cork, white grapes, apple cider vinegar, and some sherry. Flavor of sour green apples, citric, vinous, and brett with a dry oak finish. Alcohol is there, but nice hidden in the flavor and aroma. Excellent!

(Bottle on 2008-03-23) Golden orange colour. Malty, bit acidy nose. Taste is acidic at the beginning and moves towards quite strong malt taste. Even hints on rye bread.

Poured from a 375 ml bottle. Still pour of apple cider consistency and clarity. Musty apple and earth nose. Crusty pastries and cheeses, brown spices and tart alcohol presence. First flavor is a bogged down bran and oatmeal graininess, lilting lazily into a hot acidity of white wine and dulled lactic acid. Acidity is very sharp and brisk, but seems somewhat polished off in an atypical way with less balsamic and acetic acid and more heavily concentrated pear and lemon juice. More searing with ripe sourness and alcohol in the mid palate; texture is soft and acidic as a fairly syrupy white wine, with a peppery, somewhat foul alcoholic finish. Some residual, clinging sweetness of honey and white grapes. Though friendly and simple, it seems stripped down in some vague and hard to describe way, and a bit lifeless somehow. Thanks for sharing, Zac!

375ml. No... wait... 37.5cl. Sorry Eben. Tart and vinous aroma. Lots of musty grape skin. Lesser notes of tart cherry. Plenty of wet wood. Some phenolic hotness. Pleasant for sure. Deeper and warmer sniffs reveal a fairly large bready and malty base that initially hides behind the tartness. Pours a nearly still light copper with gold accents. Quite pretty actually. Flavor is quite odd. Bready, cracker malt at first with an abrasive sourness on the back of the tongue and all the way down the throat. Wood tannin throughout. Very acidic on the finish. Simple, but without any major flaws. Thanks Zac!

Pours very still and a golden orange. Aroma has some sour and a bit of dough. Light and fruity at first, develops sourness and complexity. Sour on the tip of the tounge, has some grain and lightly sweet malt parts to it. Coats the back of the tounge and leaves some lactic sour in the back of the throat.