Rodenbach

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

Another member of RB overrated club? Pours a nice dark brown/red with orange-tinged head. Arouma of apple cider vinegar. Taste of sweet malts, and again more vinegar. I like sour beer, but there’s a thin line between refreshingly sour (like soda or a sports drink) and puckering tart. I believe this beer crosses the line, and descends too much into vinegar zone. But to each his own, I guess.

Bottle from Ohtsuki. Had this so cheaply in cans in Belgium. Harder to find it here…and much more expensive. Deep reddish brown with just a thin bit of lace. Sour, earthy aroma, with cherry and other dark fruit. Lactic and acetic. Sweet-and-sour flavor, vinegar, wood, cherries, plums, and other dark fruits. Candy and earth together. Flavorful, for sure, though a bit too sweet and mainstream. Still, a decent beer. I want a Grande Cru!

Pours a ruby hued brown, carbonated with a tan/ off-white foamy head. Aroma of malts and fruit. Taste is fruity/ berries and malts with a mild sour aftertaste. Mild for a sour ale, but very enjoyable

copper to brown colour. Aroma is vinegar, citrus. Taste is acidic, malty cereals, wood. After taste was a bit light and unexciting.

Sour Ale, deep red with a good head, very sour aroma and taste, had it on draught in Bruges and in cans. Very sour and vinegary, not nice at all, it tastes like Cameron’s Strongarm when the barrel has gone off. I know many love this sort of beer but if you have been brought up to expect beer to taste like beer, it comes as a bit of a shock for it to taste like vinegar or a barrel that has gone off, one that would be thrown out, to many of us (I would think the vast majority of the world) it is just not right.

Deep red with brown highlights. Light brown one-finger head which dissipates very quickly. Minimal lacing, almost not present. Not a huge nose on this one. Slight vinegar presence. Sour fruits. Cherries and tart green apples mix with unripened peaches. Slight hints of sherry and oak. Traces of leather and vanilla. Sherry and oak notes mix with a slight hint of vinegar. Big taste of tart apples combined with the sweetness of black cherries. Nice earthy/woody presence. Hints of grass. Finishes with a taste remeniscent of sawdust. Good and crisp. Not as creamy as I’d like it to be. A bit on the thin side. The feeling of the carbonation is not quite right. Reminds me of Sprite, after being opened for a day. Perhaps I’m spoiled by the availability of it, but for the price, I’d much rather reach for a Duchesse. This is drinkable, sure, but I’d prefer something else, I think. This is not available in my area, so if I were in another part of the country and saw it in a store, I’d buy a couple, sure. I just wouldn’t go out of my way to search it out.

Redbrown in colour with nice off white mousse. Aroma is refreshing with a sweet and sour caracter, some fruity tones, caramel and a slight herbalness too. Taste is wine like, good balance between sweet and sour, a light earthy touch and a crisp tart bitter in the end.

~ Purchased this 750 ml bottle from Big Z Beverage in Huntington NY. This beer is dark amber in color with a decent head. Smell is complex, funky and sour. Taste is the same. Absolutely refreshing! I could drink this all day long. Rodenbach is an intriguing brew and one that’s definitely worth a try. ~