Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne

Brewed by Verhaeghe
Style: Sour Ale
Vichte, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Marked as best before December 15, 2008. Smells sweet and acidic sour with strong doses of citrus and wood (oak?). Pours with a largish, fluffy, light brown head with great lacing and retention. The body that it covers is a deep brown that, when held up to a light, appears clear. Taste is pretty sweet like a Faro, but ends on a sour note (with citrus and clove). There is some noticable metal in the finish. Creamy body with lively bubbles. Good stuff.

2008-03-07. Ruby tinged brown body with a creamy beige head. Flavour of cherries with an odd funk to it, and an earthy sourness to the cherries. Malty base. (7+) Earthy aroma at first then mild cherry fruit that increases steadily as the glass warms up. Average palate. Expected this to be much more sour. Pleasant.
On tap at Poechenellekelder, Brussels

(750 ml bottle (exp. date 06/09) from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/maine/portland/ target=blank>Downeast Beverage Co.) Like malted blackberry wine...Pours hazy brownish red with about 1/4" or so of tannish head. Aroma is rich and intriguing - like a malted wine with notes of yeast, brown sugar, sweet and sour cherry, wine and oak. Mouthfeel is fairly smooth, medium-full and a little sticky. Carbonation seems rather low. Flavor is sweet with undertones of cherry tartness. The tartness underneath keeps some of the sweetness in check. Malty and yeasty but quite sweet. More wood emerges as it warms - old wood like the inside of a well-aged wine barrel. Not really a truly great beer but very interesting and must be one of the sweetest sour ales out there.

I was a wee infant when I rated this beer the first time. Now that I am a graduating to the world of sours I find that I do enjoy the Duchess very much. Reminds me so much of sweet tarts. Fruity, tart, sweet, woody. Good stuff.

Bottle. Gorgeous Flemish Red aroma, loads of tart sour cherries and not too close too vinegar. Deep red pour, dark and barely translucent, with a quickly dissipating beige-brown head – rocky while it lasted, though. Taste is much sweeter than anticipated, even over the strong levels of sour cherry tartness, but just under cloying. Some sweetened kriek notes, a gentle wash of oak in the bg, and a solid malt base. Mouthfeel is slickly malty with edge crispness, body medium-full, and aftertaste lip-smacking fun! One of the better examples available in the States – but a blend with toned-down sweetness would break the 4.0-barrier.

Red-brown with a small white head. Vinegary aroma with sour fruit. Very sweet with a little bit of sourness. Bitter finish with lots of earthy funk. Not that great. Way too sweet. I’ve had better flemish sours.

Dark, dark mahogany pour with generous light tan foamy head. Sweet and sour grapey aroma. My wife said "like a grape Nehi gone bad" to which I replied "... or gone good." Tastes of sweet/sour grapes, cherries, malt vinegar, kombucha (good call, AlabastorJones). Palate flatter than expected. Slight metallic finish takes away from finish significantly. Wish it had a dryer, tarter finish. A unique beer. Probably priced too high for me to drink often, but very nice.

Molasses, raisin, grape juice smell. Beautiful, deep dark amber. Persistent head with excellent lacing and mild carbonation. First taste is very much like grape juice, sweet and acidic. Medium- to full-bodied, but champagne-like. Certainly unique.