De Ranke Kriek

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

UPDATED: SEP 16, 2009 Bottle at GBBF, August 2005. Lets think about what I don’t like in a lot of fruit beers. Artificial aroma: Not this one - funky farmyard character, not boiled sweets. Artificial flavour: Nope - definitely gives the impression of genuine sour cherries, and plenty of them. Sticky mouthfeel: No way - this has a lot of sour acidity to cut through the fruit. Too sweet: Definitely not - this is very dry indeed (I like that). Lack of body: Well maybe this doesn’t have the fullest mouthfeel but it does have woody and vinous depths that work well with the fruit. No clout: Not this one - certainly not a puny confection, with plenty of character and a generous 7% alcohol punch (which doesn’t intrude too much). In short, this has pretty much all I could want in a non-lambic (OK so there may be some lambic in the mix) fruit beer. But I still generally prefer beer to taste of beer than of fruit, so a fruit beer has to be really well done for me to appreciate it. This hits the spot perfectly. The very bright red/pink colour is a bit alarming though.

Süßer Kirschgeruch, mild. Sehr milder, etwas muffiger Antrunk. Später leicht säuerlich und deutlich kirschiger. Der Nachgeschmack wird ruppig eingeleitet, verhalten sauer und mittelfruchtig ist er anschließend. Bis hierhin ist das Bier sehr mild, der nun folgende Kirschton ist der Stärkste. Test vom 30.5.2007, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: 9,9,10,11,7,9 - 9,35

Poured a cloudy ruby color with a smaller pinkish head. Aromas and tastes of sour cherries. Light yeast. Some cork in the aroma. Lightly sour.

Hazy mass wine ith light red hues. Powdery cherry, chalky in aroma. Sour cherries and lactic acid sourness, with apples in finish. Light bodied but pleasant.

Pours a bright hazy ruby with a thin, short-lived off-white head. Aroma is of tart barnyard and cherry acid. Starts very tart, dry, and acidic with a touch of cheesiness before a puckering finish. Has some subtle complexities, but they are hard to notice when I’m starting to get heartburn. There’s no way I could ever drink a whole 750ml bottle of this myself, in fact I had trouble with half that. Did I mention that this stuff is way overpriced too?

(Pinkish) head gone in four seconds flat (apt, that); deep garnet red, hazy, with a brownish hue. "Tart" nose with ripe cherries and cherrymost. Aromas of Cherry Heering and portwine (no madeirisation). Very tart, extremely woody, old oak-like taste. Acidity nearly lemon-like, only one step away from the great lambic-based krieks. Earthy aroma's, and flavours as from over-ripe fruit, or the pulp from pressed winegrapes. Quite well-bodied. The acidity lends it a false thinnish feeling. Dry-out effect. A truly great top-fermenting kriek. Not quite that, but all the same in the spirit of the Crombé kriek.

Bottle - GBBF 2005. A rich vivrant red coloured beer with a sour farmyard cheesy almost lambic like dry aroma. The taste is beautiful. Full flavours featuring rich sour fruits and more lambic qualities. A truly great beer which I could happily drink time after time.

Bottle at Sourfest. Pours with a red body and a fading white head. Aroma is funk, sour, with cherries. Taste is acidic, tart, funky. A bit acetic with lots of fruit. Lively bubbles with a super dry mouthfeel.

UPDATED: DEC 14, 2008 750ml bottle, best by Sep 2012. A careful pour yields a clear candy bright red colored body with little to no head. Mild to moderate acetic notes early in the nose, with a starchy and dusty cherry/raspberry note following. Body is medium to thin, surprisingly thin, actually, lacking any definite roundness and fullness that I would expect of the style and of de Ranke. Mild sweetness up front is quickly overcome with a moderately strong lactic sourness, leaving the mouth feeling pricked, starchy, dry and slightly fuzzed. Later pours with some yeast mixed in provide additional fullness but still not enough to satisfy me, and the fruit seemed just a little too sugared and sweet.

UPDATED: SEP 10, 2004 (1.5 year old bottle): The dust of ages has settled on this workhorse of a barnyard...Sour cherries can be perceived through the cracks of the barn...Shy grapefruit induce a drying effect and a prolonged thread of acidity...Too yeasty and not krieky enough to be a masterpiece, but an extremely enjoyable ballad in time...