Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

Aroma has cherry, almond and oak. Sweetish flavor with cherry juice, caramel and oak. Some sourness and a hint of rubber in the aftertaste. Cherries on oud bruin, just like Liefmans kriek, but lacks the quality of that beer. Still a nice beer, though.

Bottled:
Sourly aroma, medium strong cherry note. Brillant red color. Flavor is light sourly with remarkable cherry flavor, that isn’t dominant. End is astringent with light notes of bitter almonds. Nice, but a hint to sweet.

Best before June 6th 2005 bottle. Don’t know why most readily available Flemish Sour Ales in the U.S. are so heavily filtered, but this one sure is. Still, a ruddy-strawberry rhubarb color, with some medium dark beige/brown tones and a small but somewhat persistent off-white head. Aroma of new plastic, light cherries, a touch of acetic acid and light oak suggestions. Flavor, to my surprise, is not as simple and cherryish as I would have expected. Having not particularly cared for the Vichtenaar, I thought I would like this even less (I don’t like fruit in lambics or sour ales as much as I like the classic rendition). But the cherries do not dominate, there is a lightly sugary flavor, but the beer does present a decent oakiness, with some good instances of sourness along the way. It’s nothing that knocks your socks off. Lightly tart yeast notes, oak and vinegar notes mix with the cherries on the finish. Strange chalk or gum-like consistency to it, almost like chewing a cherry candy chew. Much better stuff out there (can you say "Alexander"), can’t see myself drinking this again.

Clear ruby in colour with spritzy carbonation. Aromas of mild wood and vinegar, before a canned sweet cherry note takes over. Some sourness in the mouth, along with a bit more cherry, some light malt, lemon, and a hint of wood. A strange mix of tart and sweet. If the sweetness didn’t taste so much like overly processed (or artificial) cherry, it would be much better off. Overall it kind of bridges the sour gap between Liefmans and Rodenbach Grand Cru. Not bad.

11.2oz bottle. pours red with white head. nose is earthy and syrupy cherries. flavor is earthy, too sweet, cough syrup like cherry flavor. watery mouth feel. refreshing.

No head on the glass presented--therefore, no lace. Beautiful light ruby color. Clear. This beer reminds me of a cross between a spritzy wine and sweet fermented cider. There isn’t much "cherry" flavor here, but it is still very tasty. There’s a good "chew" to the body.

11.2oz, Best before 15-02-07. Pours a clear brownish red with a one and a half finger fading light pink head. Aroma of oak, sour fruits (in addition to the cherries), barnyard funk, a little bit of dust and cobwebs. The taste reminds me of their other beer I tried and the beer couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be sweet or acidic--this one wants to be a little too sweet for me. The flavors are otherwise pretty much the same with the oak and funk up front. I got a little cardboard as well. Dry finish. Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation. Not too bad.

Pours attractive garnet color with no head. The nose and the flavor are full of vinous over ripe fruits and balsamic vinegar.