Belle-Vue Kriek

Brewed by Belle-Vue (InBev)
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

375 ml Bottle: I’m glad to see that I don’t hate lambics, I just hate Chapeau Exotic. The bottle is excellent with a cool cork top, and it pours great. Nice thick head with a ruby red body, very little visual carbonation. Aroma heavy in cherries, but quite pleasant. More carbonation in the taste, with heavy cherry flavour imparted with a very delicate lager-style backing. I’m actually quite impressed with this as far as the style goes, I’d have one again. Probably a good one during the summer heat, but perhaps not at the price.

This was my first fruit beer. Appearance was quite interesting. Pours cheery red with a light pink head and lots of carbonation bubbles. Looks more like a cherry soda than a beer. Aroma is berries and lots of them. Some cherries and cranberries. Taste is somewhere between cranberry juice and a light lager, with a hint of grains and what could be apples. Not a horrible taste at all, but not what I would like is a beer. I doubt I will be having this one again, but it was worth the tasting.

Bottle from the LCBO. I’m writing an article on fruit beers for a local food & drink website, so I’m re-rating some stuff to update my notes, and I realized I’d never rated this. Pours a bright ruby colour with a medium pink head. Aroma of cherry cough drops. Flavour is fairly tart, with a lot of cherry flavour, but it turns medicinal in the finish, and not in a good way like the Drie Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek I tried last week. Basically, this is a simple, dumbed down take on this style - it’s not awful, but it’s far from being a great beer.

Bottle. Pours a deep reddish brown colour with not much head. Scents of cherry permeate the nose. Those flavors continue upon sipping but are not overly sweet and make a very nice fruit beer. The cherry flavor is strong, almost like a concentrated dried cherries. A light, fun and refreshing concoction. Thanks to Blankboy for the bottle.

Bouteille verte de 375 ml, avec bouchon de liège, achetée à la LCBO d’Ottawa (ONT). Arôme: Odeur de cerises et de sucré. Apparence: La couleur est rouge avec une faible densité de bulle. Présence d’un moyen col mousseux rosâtre avec une large dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de cerises sûrettes. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture huileuse. Forte effervescence en bouche. Présence d’amertume en arrière goût. (Rating #522)

Sampled straight from the bottle in Ieper to cap a night of lots of drinking (persistently pleaded with the the hotel late night cover boy to open the bar just for us and eventually got three bottles "to go"). A very drinkable fruit lambic, this one had enough fruit to it to be tasteful (and not a big mouthful of puckering), while not losing some of the sourness imparted by the lambic base (it was still a beer and didn’t taste like a soft drink). Aroma was cherries and apples. Flavor was mostly cherries (some tartness).

Disappointed with the overall "lack of beer" essence. Felt like a fruit cocktail or juice drink and very little like an "ale" as it claims. Palatable for a hot summer day, but be prepared to be let down if you were hoping for a darker, finished ale.

Bottle at Staropramen Naverandach in Prague, May 2006. Bottle indicates 5.1% ABV. Clear dark red color, pink not lasting head. Sour and cherry scent. Ratehr big mouthfeel. Sweet and sour taste, sour aftertaste. Very low to no bitterness.