Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

The beer pours an opalescent sanguineous color, the head fair in size, frothy in texture, but settles quite quickly, leaving a spindly lace behind. Nose is sweet and sour fruit, something like raspberries and ripe bananas, light hints of malt, and not unpleasant. Front is malt with a very light sweetness, but the sourness of a “Flanders Red Ale” hits the palate almost immediately. The top is cadaverous, the finish is caustic, meagerly hopped, the aftertaste bone-dry with a lingering sourness which is expected in this style. I must admit it is a bit thin, or better yet watery, but it appears the majority of raters, have never experienced a “Flanders Red Ale”. Ranks #759 on my current 1000 beer master list.

Blood-red appearance. Strong, cranberry-currant taste. Pleasant and sour. I’ve never managed to develop a taste for currants, but this was an interesting drink. Complex, slightly woody finish.

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.

(Bottle) Pours a deep red body with a large pink head. Aroma of cherries and candy sugar. Flavor of cherry pie filling. Carbonated mouthfeel.

Sample courtesy of Pailhead. Pours dark ruby color with only ring of bubbles. Sour vinegar and tart cherry aroma and flavor. Leaves long aftertaste, but dry at the smae time if that makes any sense.

On tap at Ølbaren. Pours red with a diminishing head. Sweet and sour with aromas of cherry, vinegar and a hint of glue. Fruity finish. A Japanese bloke had a sip of my glass and he told me it reminded him a lot of soy sauce?!?

Original rating 1/15/06 From the bottle.

Pours a deep elegant red with a reasonablely long-lived pinkish head. The aroma is apple vinegar and black cherries; the flavor is the joy of sucking sour cherry juice out of old tannic oak -- a pleasant (if slightly too sweet) Flemish sour in the Vichtenaar vein, with decided cherry (which is integral, not a flavoring add-on) and hints of oak and vanilla, nice sour twist with a pleasant finish, well carbonated, and refreshing on the tongue in even small sips.

I’m really enjoying this one, though it didn’t last nearly long enough in my glass. I wish I had another waiting in the fridge. 7/4/8/4/16 = 3.9

Rerate 9/11/06. Again bottled.

The above rating was one of my first experiences (maybe the first? I don’t remember) with sour ales. It was a great gateway sour, because it got me thinking about and appreciating both the sour flavors and the fruit flavors that a good beer can offer. (Previous to this, my experience with fruit beer was limited to nasty American wine-cooler alternatives). But I feel that after getting accustomed to a number of the wonderful blended and fruit lambics out there, this one falls a bit short. It’s got some nice funky aroma and flavor in there, but on top is a syrupy cherry sweetness that verges too close to Lindemanns territory. 7/4/6/4/13=3.4 Rating is averaged.

Rerate 8/5/09 Naked City sour tasting. Lindemanns gets ahold of Duchess. 7/4/6/4/12=3.3. Pushing the rating hard in that direction.

Bottle. Aroma of wood, and light fruit. Flavor is cherry and berry, light oak and a lot of carbonation.