Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

Bottle. Frothy white good mostly lasting head. Red colour. Light cherry aroma. Not very sour. Light btter flavor. Average light bitter finish. Oily palate.

Bottle. Aroma of sparking red wine! Ruby brown colors with a white(?) head that lasted for seconds. Oak aromas as the glass approaches the lips. Medium body with mild fizzy carbonation. Flavors of oak and cherry. Quite astringent. It’s not so much sour as woody. There’s some sweet cherry, but the sour and oak tend to overbalance it. Just a fantastic finish - which is much as went before.

Very dark brown body with a little red. Has a small light purple head. The aroma is mild with oak, vanilla and cherries. I expected the taste to be much more sour. However, I got oak, toast, cashews and a hint of cherry. Finishes with a copper and stale bread. Certainly interesting, but nothing extraordinary.

Assertive cherries, decently acidic sourness, oak apparent in the nose. Dark red with thin, pink tinged head that recedes to ring. Cookies, cooked balsamic vinegar, oak make appearances but cherries are the feature in this one. Tart at the finish. Body is creamy with decent carbonation - just enough to bring out the flavours. Bottle (Sample at Mondial 2004).

Bottle (Echt Kriekenbier): Ruby hue with fading fizzy pink head and little lace. The aroma has notes of oak wood and cherries (duh) with a hint of lemon zest, sweetbread, and dusty yeast esters. The taste is quite mild all things considered. The cherry taste is only mild in tartness and the woody nature is more subdued than expected from the aroma. The brown ale background seems to flatten out the punch of the Kriek. A note of clove on the finish. The feel is fizzy and crisp with a lingering dryness. While quaffable, I stick with my favorites from the style.

Cask at GBBF 2008... deep red ...Sour woody light fruit nose ... tart ligth hop and some cherry and little sour....

Cask at GBBF 09 ....light soft pink ... tart cherry nose ... big fruity cherry ... light sour ... big soft fruit.3.4

Bottle - Aug 2003: Sampled alongside Belle-Vue Kriek and Mort Subite Kriek, this Flemish Sour Ale with cherries spanked them into quivering submission. Complex, challenging and utterly fascinating.
The initial light, loose bubbles faded away to reveal a beautiful shining cherry colour full of light, moonbeams and red-faced angels singing in the streets of Mysore and Zanzibar. This was a priceless gem brought by camel train across the sands of time. When looked at from above it is merely a transparent brown - dull and sewerish, like turd stained water. Looking at an angle you can see the brown top surface and the magical cherry sides at the same time. Awesome! This gets high marks for the trick of being two colours at the same time - both of which are interesting, though one is mysteriously sublime while the other is curiously revolting.
The aroma is sour with some aged damp leather, some dried cow shit, an iron bar and a bag of twiglets. The aroma is of a steel sword having hacked through a body - still steaming with blood and guts. It was the most fascinating of the three, though also the least pleasant.
The palate is soft and gentle yet firm enough to satisfy. Sweetness and sourness are very pronounced but well balanced resulting in an intense flavour experience compared to the other two.
This is a devilish concoction of blood, cherries and acid. Yummy! [4.1]
Draught - Aug 2004, GBBF: Woody. Great flavours and great taste. Probably the best beer of the fest. I was surprised at the high carbonation - and that was a negative for me. [3.9]

Bottle. High fluffy but lasting pink head. Clear ruby and lovely body. Mild sour cherries aroma with a bit of oak as well. Relatively sour cherries lemon flavor. Would not have guessed on such a high alcohol percentage. Low carbonation. Like the long sour aftertaste. Nice surprise.