Cuvée De Ranke

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Best By Date July 2012; Sampled July 2008
A vigorous pour produces a creamy, two-finger thick, light tan colored head. The beer is a hazy plum color that shows a murky, orange-tinged amber color when held up to the light. The aroma is quite tart smelling with a ample backdrop of fruit notes. A closer inspection yields a nice funkiness to this brew’s nose as well. Aromas of lactic acid, tamarind, sour plums, ripe pears, butyric acid, old sweaty leather, musty earth and a fruity ripe cheese note are each noticeable. A touch of soft, toasty, crushed malt is noticeable just a bit towards the finis of the aroma. While at first quite sour smelling a rich, complex fruitiness really starts to come to the for after a short while. This has a very nice nose to it, one which is complex and enjoyable.

Tart tasting, though not as much as many a hard Lambic. The ample fruitiness is still quite noticeable in the flavor with notes of ripe plums, pear, some dark grape flavors, . The finish is distinct and it took me a second to figure out what was going on; I think that it is a substantial bitterness that is noticeable, though not strong; it threw me off a bit because your typical sour beer, much less Lambic has a very reduced hop character. The bitterness in the finish is lightly astringent and almost has an herbal quality to it. In the finish some tannins and the sourness combine to create a sensation a bit like black tea does with a tannic, teeth coating astringency that is only light present in this beer. I really like how the lactic sourness couples with the fruit character. The funk, especially the Brettanomyces derived character is much reduced in the flavor at first, but as it warms up a bit it becomes more noticeable. Sweaty horse blanket notes add a light component, there is a slight mustiness and a bit of barnyard funk.

After the second pour a touch of funky, ripe, farmhouse cheese aromatics join the other, more noticeable notes in the aroma. Uriatic like notes of "cat-piss" become a bit more accentuated as it forms a back-drop to some of the other aromatic notes. The second pour also makes me realize that there is a soft sweetness still in this beer; it is not much, but I think it is what really accentuates the interesting fruitiness that this beer has.

I wonder what the base beer for this is? There seems to be a fair amount of residual hop character, including a herbal hop flavor and it make me wonder if the XX Bitter was included somewhere in here. Just a fantastic beer, it is very sour and funky, but not really "hard" and it is significantly different from the typical sour Belgian varieties of Lambic or Flemish Sour. It doesn’t have the malt depth of the latter, nor is it quite as funky/sour or pale (in malt character and fruitiness) as the former. A singular beer that makes me think of some of the new world sours, but it has a refined quality to it (perhaps it is the lack of overt / aggressive oak) that many of the American sours don’t quite reach. I could drink a ton of this and actually wish I had more than this one bottle so I could age a couple (that 2012 best by date seems to be calling to me).

Bottle @ DØE meeting. Pours hazy light orange with a small white head. Aroma is nicely balanced sour with lemon, oak, barnyard, brett, little dusty. Taste is sour grapes, hints of lemonpeel, brett, dusty, barnyard. Thin body, lively, nice dry tart finish. 160512

75cl bottle tasting with Wim and Yves. Darker blond coloured beer with some slight hazy touches. Almost no carbonation and a small white head. Rather special, sour earthy and grainy hinted aroma. Full palate. Finish is sour bitter balanced with again some grainy sour hints. Nice alternative brew.

Clear goldblond coloured beer with small white head and no carbonation visible. Sour spiced aroma. Full palate. Finish is rather sour and dry. Nice!

Thanks to Blankboy. Appearance: slightly cloudy orange, small perfectly white head. Aroma: Sour, lots of funkiness, tart. Flavour: so tart, lovely and sour, nice yeast notes, very farmhouse like, nice and dry, long sour finish. Delicious.

21st July 2009
Hazy gold beer. Thin white head. Crisp dry palate. Sour and tart but not too acid lemon. Very dry finish.

Clear amber with a lasting white head. Aroma is sweet, malty, citrus, barnyard and wood. Flavor is quite sweet, moderate sour and moderate acidic. Rather dry and moderate acidic finish. 210412

A very sour and bitter beer with some flowery notes and some sweetness. Amber in color with a white head.

The regular paper covered green 0.75cl bottle, reviewed when fairly young (drank Sep 2011, Best before date of Jan 2015). Poured slowly into three different glasses, the last one getting some of the sediment within it. Two glasses of clear light amber sat in front of me, the third being a bit darker and not so clear to the eye: none had much of a head, I blame the slow pour and young age of the brew. The smell and taste were as follows: Yeasty cooking apples with an side dish of semi-acidic pears which have began to rot because of over ripeness. I really liked it, refreshing and different.

Hazy straw. Medium white head with some staying power. Plenty of lacing. Peaches and apricots in the nose. Sweet and bitter up front. Acetic in the mouth and in the nose. Sour on the back. Decent.

750 ml bottle courtesy of tkrjukoff. Shared at epic tasting on February 11. Pours hazy golden with a reddish white head that leaves some trace while dissipating. Smell is sour and slightly sweet with orange juice, honey, lemon zest, bread and barnyard. Taste is sour, slightly bitter and slightly sweet with sweet fruits, lemon juice, orange peal and brett. Mouthfeel is tart and medium-bodied. Finish is tart with lots of citrus.