Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

This was a decent beer. I am not a big fan of the style but I decided to sample it anyways. It pours a deep red color with a pinkish-white head. The taste is tart and the finish is dry. Worth a try as a change of pace from the normal.

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.

Savannah, Ga. - Habersham Beverages, 11.2 oz bottle. Dark, ruby red pour with a tight, slighlty gray head, sticks around a bit. Essence of sour cherries in the aroma. Flavor alternates between the sweet and the sour wtih a heavy does of sour cherries, soem sweet tart notes and a wee hint of vinegar. Not as puckery sour as many sour ales and the mouthfeel is kind of faded. Tastes slightly worn out. Decent nightcap though.

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.

Deep red body, thin off-white head. Fruit skin aroma, very woody and musty, with a sulfuric twang that smells like artificial fart spray (ugh). The sulfuric character is also notable in the flavor and lends a strange funk to the sour, thin, woody body. There’s a bit of cherry tartness but overall this feels watered-down. I don’t like this one as well as I liked the Vichtenaar Flemish Ale.

BB 10/31/2005... Poured a clear, ruby red color with a thin, off white head that left no lacing on the glass. Aroma of sweet cherries, grapes, port wine, and light oak. Taste of medicinal, sweet cherries, faint oak, and a lingering tartness. The first sip was a shocker, but I got used to this.

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.