Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

Full aroma with cherries (of course) and also some tender maltiness. The appearance is dark ruby and even the head is a light pink. Sour and tart, as I expected, but it seems slightly off-balanced: it needs something other than the fruit to distinguish it from other fruit beers, it isn’t quite malty/sweet enough, and the sourness itself just isn’t enough to carry the flemish sour ale title, IMHO.

Reddish purple color with pink lace - aroma of sweet cherry syrup, acidity and band-aids - quite dry and medium-tart - just a mild cherry presence, not overpowering - dry, mineral-like finish - decent.

Nice beer. Light cherry flavor. Excellent tartness. Not much acetic note at all. This is a very mouth watering beer which I could drink much more of. Much better beer than the Vichtenarr. Smooth lactic presence with a dry tart finish. Could use a bit more cherry to it, perhaps.

The aroma is of tart cherries and a viniger background. The beer pours a mahogony with a pink fizzy head. There is a tartness to the body with a sour cherry a malty sweetness balance.

Pours a muddy reddish-brown. Bubbly head diminishes rapidly. Aroma reminiscent of the layer of decomposing leaves and cherries in an orchard after harvest. Vinous with cherry sweetness and a neat bit of malt. A tad too much carbonation brought the mouthfeel down a bit. Develops a puckering feel almost like a cherryade.

Uh oh... could this be spoiled? That would really make my day... not like this little 33cl bottle didn’t cost almost $4. Let’s see... brown rust where the cap was held, tinny sour spoiled nose of foot sweat and tobasco sauce... oh man something here is wrong, but I can’t place it. There does seem to be a bit of a cherry presence in there, and being a sour ale an all I guess some weirdness is expected, but this thing could just as easily be interpreted as being massively spoiled or infected. When sour ales aren’t made well this is what happens... you just can’t tell. Has a massively burnt flavor of peanuts, chemicals and cherries, with a tinny rust flavored minerally body. Bleeeuuughhhh. Bad on so many levels. Someone said balsamic cherries, I think they’re right.

Doesn’t smell as god as thier Duchesse or Vichtenaar. Not the slightest bit similar either. The cherry flavoring is much more overt, but is really too much. The malt is too powerful in this as well.

0.33L bottle, bb 18-10-06. Served in my NB worthy glass right from the cellar at 52°. Dark red color, reddish tinted, white head, smallish but fluffy. The beer and foam coats the glass when swilred. The aroma is red wine, red wine vinegar, oak, vanilla, and a touch of sweetness. The cherries don’t assert themselves, in fact I cannot discern them from the rest of the aroma. Yup, this is a flemish sour, wasn’t sure when I bought it. The initial taste is sweet and sour cherries with a bit of oak and yeast? The mid-taste is vanilla, oak, and a bright cherry flavor and cider with a bit of mouthpuckering sourness, but not as much as a non-fruit Flemish sour. The finish is moderately sour with some oak and a touch of brett? or some other lambic-ish funkiness. The funkiness is far from overwelhming, but adds a bit of flair at the end. This is pretty tasty, I kinda dig the cherry with the flemish sour.