Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

Fresh: Rich ruby colour. Acetic, lactic aroma with cherry candies. Oaky, fat, tangy, voluptuous. Port-like accents. Slightly candyish finish, with a hint of acetic acid.

Aged, Vichte Vera, rated November 22/08
Light brown. Hazy. Rich, almost malt vinegar nose. Wood and sweet fruits on the palate, only a little bit of sourness. Strange stuff, but this is also really old stuff so the fruit is muted and the weirdness accentuated. I rated this aged version 7-3-7-3-14 = 3.4

My bottle is called Echt Kriekenbier. I’m sure it is the same, however. Pours deep magenta with a tall pink head. Aroma is sour with hints of vinegar, fruit, and wood. Taste is sour cherry but it’s somewhat sweet with the vinegar only creeping in around the edges. You can taste the wood also, but it’s not as pronounced as some other cask aged beers. Mouthfeel is moderately bitter but otherwise silky smooth. No acidity in this one, that I can pick up, anyway. Finish is a bit dry leaving more of the sour cherry taste. Lovely beer!

Deep black cherry soda hue. Small purplish head. Definate vinegar, sour cherry, medicinal nose. Nice funk, acidic, vinegar, light in body, dark cherry, wood, cherry pit, funky sour finish. Crisp and refreshing, but simple, and kind of boring. Finishes with a dark, lingering, over-ripened cherry flavor.

Sour aroma with a hint of cherries, duh. See through red with a fine pink head that was gone by the time I finished drinking. A brief hint of sweetness that was followed up by the cherry sourness, and finshed with a bitter flare. A rather dry finish and some carbonation as well. Not too bad, but New Glarus is better.

This bottled brew marked best before 6/7/05 poured a large sized head of foamy finely sized quickly diminishing to the point of non-existence with a very loud noisy decrease as the head receded from the popping bubbles. The bubbles were purple hued and left behind a poor lacing. The body was carbonated and transparent purple/brown in color. The aroma was strongly cherry and malty. The mouth feel was initially tingly bubbly and had a dry finish with continued to dry in a lingering finish. The flavor contained strong notes of cherries.

Dark ruby brown, with little head. Light cherry aroma with some vinegar. Tart, clean cherry flavour.

33 cL bottle, snifter, bottle labled as "Echt Kriekenbier". My first impression of the aroma is "gingerbread cookies". Tons of cherries, cask wood, raisin, slight port, a bit of anise and maybe some soy sauce in the aroma. Smells every bit as good as its little brother but yet entirely different. Light plum-red body with a tall, pink, frothy head that diminishes quickly. Heavily sweet, moderately acidic (sour) flavor becomes a moderately sweet, moderately acidic (sour, tart) finish. Strong tannin presence in the aftertaste. Medium body, oily/slick texture, average carbonation. The bottom line is: a very drying, tannin laced finish is a little strong for my preference, but this is still a very fine brew.

(draft @ The Old Toad - Rochester, NY) Reddish color with a light pink head. Aroma is tart with some mildly sweet cherry notes. Nice and funky notes as well. Flavor is much the same. A nice and tart sour note at the beginning with a mildly sweet and natural cherry flavors. Very earthy and funky. Flavor doesn’t last long, but still good.