Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

Wonderful cherry aroma. The cherries carries through quite well and are not overpowering like a lot of fruit beers. A great summertime brew.

BB 02-07. Pours a dark, clear, ruby-amber color with a fairly small, fizzy, pinkish-beige, mostly diminishing head and no lace. Nose is sweeter than I would have thought from how sour and acetic the original was; ripe cherries make up the grist with also, light sour cherries, faint apple cider vinegar, and plum skins, maybe even a bit of woody funk. Flavor is quite vinous and similar to the flavor; cherries between ripe and overripe, raisins, maybe a bit of cherry syrup, minimal acetic notes, and a musty-funky oak note near the finish. Palate is medium-light, lively, and somewhat quenching with some acidity. Finishes tart with plenty of funky oak notes. Nice cherry notes to match the tart notes of the Flemish. Not quite as acidic or acetic as the original but does benefit from the vinous notes and subtle funkiness. Good but not great.

Bottle. Ruby red with nice foamy pink head. Aromas of sour cherries, wood, earth and vinegar. Dry flavour of cherries with wooden notes.

Full aroma of sweet cherries and oak. Pours a clear deep red with a compact pink head. Flavor is cherries and vanilla, whose sweetness offsets a long bitter woody finish. Dry on the finish, has the sensation in common with many dubbels where it seems to evaporate off the tongue. More a sipper than a drinker.

Explosive huge fizzy head was produced during the pour, but then quickly vanished leaving only a skiff of bubbles floating on top of the clear deep red with hints of brown body. Strange smell smells more like a cherry port then a beer, and I can definitely notice a strong alcohol presence. Sour and refreshing, very aggressive flavor maybe a touch overpowering for my taste. The sweetness of the cherries is kept under control so this brew doesn’t get overly sweet, and this feels very light bodied and leaves your mouth dry and parched, a lingering sour flavor is left in your mouth. Not a bad brew but nothing special don’t think I could ever drink more then one a night

OK, I’m a sucker for red-colored beer. The color is cough-syrup red, with the gravity of water. Pours thin, smells of slight cherries and old oak and tastes soft and artificial. The dryness on the tongue borders on unpleasant, then comes this strange (but nice) lively carbonation - strange. This is the lowest rated of the three primary beers from this brewery for a reason - it lacks the boldness and character of the others.

Poured a luxurious, dark ruby red in colour and was fairly well carbonated. The head was miniscule and didn’t stay around beyond a few seconds. Aroma was faint, but did suggest some cherry. The taste was quite pleasant, being chiefly cherry with a bit of malt and was not as bitter as expected. I found this one rather "fizzier" than other Kriekenbiers.

A delightful kriek. Heavy cherry with a mild aftertaste that can only be described as "a bit unusual". More like a sweet wine than a beer.