Verhaeghe Echte Kriekenbier

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

Bottle. Deep, reddish-brown color, pinkish head. Aroma of sour cherries and some earthy tones. Beautiful cherry flavor, with well-balanced sweetness. One of the best krieks I’ve had the pleasure of tasting.

On tap at Stone. Yum Yum Yum. Smells sour with a background of funkiness. Farmy undertones. Wonderful brown red color. Taste is good, but the leftovers are great. This funkiness in the aftertaste hangs out and bounces around the mouth for a long time. The quote I wrote at the time was the leftovers hang out and party in my mouth.

250ml bottle (expiry 7/10) into wine glass. Appears as a spritzy cherry red beer with a short lasting fine cream pink head. Obvious nose of cherries with background sour and woody aromas plus a hint of red wine vinegar. The taste is tart up front with the restrained cherry sweetness hitting the tongue later on. It has nicely balanced sweet and sour flavours. Medium bodied with a lively mouthfeel. Excellent.

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]

The aroma is sour cherries and apples. The appearance is a dark red color with a pink head. The flavor is somewhat sour but mostly sweet with some sour cherries, vanilla, and apples. The carbonation tends to get in the way a little bit. Overall this is a little sweeter than many Ive sampled from this style but its still very good.

Medium red color. Small pinkish head. Aroma is tart, fruity and sour. A medium bodied kriek. Tart and fruity with a nice malt backbone. Acidic and a little harsh perhaps, but it does have a sort of lactic sourness to it. Nicely balanced. Very smooth. Light and refreshing. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

Pours with a red tingedd head. Aroma of oak and cherry. A decent sour/red with a hint of cherries. Kind of tart, not much sweetness.

Bottle: Poured a deep red color ale with a rather large pink color foamy head with average retention and no lacing. Aroma consists of a load of cherries with some notes of oak. Taste is also a mix between loads of cherries that are sour but also lightly sweet but some light sour and tart notes with some oak presence also noticeable. Full body with some great carbonation and no appearance of alcohol. Very well done and definitely something I wish I could get more often.