Cuvée De Ranke

Brewed by Brouwerij De Ranke
Style: Sour Ale
Dottignies/Dottenijs, Belgium

Shared at WLV tasting =). A really perfect tart wild yeast aroma, dusty. Poured golden/amber with thin fine white head. Sour and tart but in a very moderate way, complimented by some metallic bitterness / noble hops. Can’t wait for this to hit shelves!

Clear orange gold, bubbly, light head. Very sour aroma, rather attacks your nose. There is some fruit in there as well, reminds me of the same fruit in Cuvee de Castleton. Nectarine, peach. Those come through in the flavor, and the carbonation comes off as a slightly prickly texture, further reminding me of peaches. Moderately aggressive sourness. My goodness this is good stuff. Has a lot of the juicy fruit flavors that even a lot of lambics don’t usually have. A bitterness in the back that I might describe as "cherry pit" in some other beers, only here I would call it peach pit. Delicious.

Pours out murky amber with no head. Taste is sweet with a little sour. Nice tartness, but definatley on the sweet side. More dessert like. Great brew.

Sampled at the ’09 RBPTE, courtesy of cheapdark. Light wheat malt and no hops, but a big yeasty, barnyard, cheesy nose. Great sour nose. Hazy light golden amber body with creaym white lacing, lasting head. Light bodied with with lively carbonation and astringent after. Heavy acidic tang, funky yeasty taste, tart and delicious. Medium bitter after. Nice sour.

Cloudy amber with a small off-white head. Great funky brett aroma, lots of grapefruit. Sweet and fruity at first, tartness and some bitterness makes it perfect, with background notes of alcohol and wood.

Bottle, BSF at the GBBF. Hazy honey, a few off-white bubbles. Fresh dry-summer-morning dandelion aroma. Spicy, wooly; simple and stunning. Dry peppery mineral flavor, light and profoundly refreshing. Didn’t actually intend to try this beer, and ended up with a glassful when my attempt to offer Ang a glass was generously misinterpreted as a request for a sample. Well, what a fine mistake that turned out to be. As much as this may not even turn out to be my highest rate of the GBBF, this was definitely the most memorable, and the one that my mouth waters for whenever I recall it. Such a beautiful beer.

Bottle via bottleworks.

This has to be one of the more under-rated sours on the site. Stunning beer.

Hazy amber pour, nice white head. Relatively flat mouthfeel but not a detriment as such. Powerful aroma, musty and moldy, very sour, lots of oak.. But the flavor is so smooth and....accessible. Amply buttery nuttiness atop a sour-but-not-so-sour base, tons of musty oak, chewy leather. Splendiforous!

My Bottom Line:
Within this highly compelling Sour Ale live dusty grapefruit creatures, roaming through green apple orchards covered in horseblankets and sweat. Needless to say, spontaneous happiness is inevitable.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam tops the muddy yellow amber.
-The funkiness is extremely complex, yet never overbearing like some lambics can be.
-The tartness is well levelled, making this lovingly drinkable.
-Carbonation is effervescent and pillowy.

Bottles.