Struiselensis

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Sour Ale
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Golden colour with no head.Aroma is sour like vinagar and bad cider many small bubbels,reminds me more of Lambic but a really bad one.

33cl bottle. Pours a deep yellow-gold with some haze and a thin, bubbly, white head that consists of somewhat large bubbles. The aroma is much like a dry champagne - some acid and some fruit. The flavor starts acidic. After several sips it strongly resembles a sauvignon blanc wine at the front of the palate. Behind the sourness is some fruit - white grapes and apples. In the front of the palate (behind the tip of the tongue, but in front of mid-palate) some beer character subtly shows itself: hints of bready malts and molasses. But the primary character is the sourness and a slight funkiness from the yeast. The finish is dry - a bit too tart at first, but then refreshing once the mouth is acclimated to the beverage. The mouthfeel is one of the biggest differences between this beer and wine: it is full, smooth, and almost chewy. The full body is toned down greatly by a very vigorous and sharp carbonation - more like that of a ginger ale than any other ale. Overall, a very interesting a tasty treat with a character that will be very familiar to a lambic drinker.

Bottle shared by Crosling. Poured a clear, pale yellow color with a moderate white head that diminished to a ring. Sour aroma of brett, lemon, apple, and other citrus. Flavor is mostly sour brett with hints of sour fruit, apples, and a bit of a dry yeast flavor. Nice puckering sourness on the palate with a decent drying bite. Some oak on the finish really would have opened up the flavor. Still a nice beer.

Bottled. Hazy golden with a white head. Slightly sourish with spicies; rosé-pepper.

33cL Bottle. Brilliant puckering nose. Apple flesh, coconut husks, phenolic fruit meat, and pungent citric acid. Damp. Light passionfruit sugars. Pours a hefty straw gold, clearish with a swirling rim of microfine white bubbles. Palate side, I’m kissed with a sweet, decadent blast of tangy acid. Delightful, but fading fast. A nip of fusels and acetone peek in. The acidity doesn’t really carry any body or that cotton-like sustaining power, it moves quickly into a muscat grape sugar, blended with French spring water. Bright and crisp on the palate, but evaporative in the sense that it just doesn’t linger in the way I want it to. A quick touch of more earthen, salted cheese rind character. Not necessarily moldy, but organic. An interesting interpretation, but with a rather shallow acid profile and not much depth backing it up, it’s not a beer that I would flock to. Thanks Brad!

Bottle pours a copper color with a smallish head that diminishes to a ring around the surface. The aroma is a bubble gum, sour apple, and slightly sour combination. The flavor is starts out sweet and mild enough, but progressively gets more tart to a sour finish resembling lemon juice. I’ve not tasted a flavor progression quite like it. I’m not sure how it does it, but it takes some time to slam you with the sour. The palate is dry and cleansing. More funk in the finish as it warms. This does not disappoint. It works well as a tribute to Lambic brewers. I like it.

A soft pour yields a frothy, fairly large bubbled, almost one-finger thick, pale, white colored crown of froth. The beer is a mix of dark copper and light amber hues as it sits on my desk but shows a lightly hazy, bright copper color when held up to the light. The aroma is quite funky, with a definite Brett influence (though it is not overwhelming) as well as a tartness that makes me think of grapefruit and tart pears. Other aromatics reminiscent of apple cider, butyric acid, slight plastic-like phenols, musty earth, a touch of funky cheese and some light vinegar like notes are all noticeable to varying degrees. Towards the finish, if you really dig for it is a distinct lactic character, most of the tartness seems to stem from the grapefruit like notes though.

Fairly well carbonated, the beer foams a bit as it hits my tongue. The beer is only softly tart when compared to a Lambic, but it does produce a nice acidic taste. Flavors of tart grapefruit are noticeable from the get go and as the beer moves towards the finish it starts to taste a bit like artificial grapefruit concentrate (stems from the esters & acidity that create the grapefruit flavor along with a bit of phenolics thrown in). Fairly light bodied, though it does have some heft to it. Somehow it gives the sense of some tannins and a touch of oak character, though I don’t think any wood ever touched this beer. This last leads to a bit of astringency that along with the acidity provides a bit of the finishing balance that is typically supplied by hop bitterness. A touch of cheesiness in the finish keeps this from being clean by Lambic standards; what this really means is that this beer is a probably a bit young.

An interesting beer, certainly a tribute to the Zenne valley, though not really a Lambic in "style". Tasty though & certainly worth trying and sitting on a couple bottles for a while.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson AZ

Nice light color belgian sour ale which was refreshing on a warm summers beer festival. The sour notes were subtle enough to not be overwhelming for a belgian beer fan but was alittle too much for a normal american beer drinker (not me!).