Hanssens Oude Kriek

Bottle shared with my sour-loving mom. Poured clear red with virtually no head. Aroma was definitely barnyard funky and sour, just what I like. Flavor was full of sour cherries and lots of acidity, and that’s about it, which I’m fine with. Awesome sour beer overall.

Poured a beautiful ruby red color. Aroma is typically sour and dank, yet is so delicious. The aromas of the cherries come through, with a grandiose almond charecter. The flavor is intense, with a strapping acidity and sourness, with a hint of earth to round things out. A lot of bang for your buck with this one.

Hulking wet sour blanket fragrance. Good tingly carbonation. Wonderful biting sour attack on the palate. Fruity tart and farmmy. Certainly not your run of the mill fru-fru sweet fruity lambic. Gratifying and fulfilling. No unsavory linger what so ever. Dirty clouddy red fun. Seems to have originated in the bottom of an old barn’s rain barrel. Delectable mouth puckering elegant zest.

Pours clear brownish/orange with some bigger bubbles and a very thin small fine head. Strong dusty, yeasty, dry cherry aroma. Sour! Maybe the most sour/tart/acidic that I’ve ever tried. Somewhere under there the cherry flavor is very natural. Intense acidic, metallic & vinegar finish. Maybe in 5-10 years it would mellow into something drinkable, mine is not and I usually like em really sour.

Pours amber/orange, with a white head. Aroma is tart cherries, lemons, and funk. Flavor is sour, with cherries, funk, and lemony acidity.

375ml Bottle $5.99 Sam’s Marcey Hanssen’s Oude Kriek opens with a healthy POP! Pours like cranberry juice, with a slight haze, into my flute a still liquid. There’s an occasional large carbonation bubble rising to the surface but that’s few and far between. A minimal white bubbly head formed on the pour but quickly fell to a tiny micro bubble ring around the glass. Looks refreshing. I’m really digging the aroma on this one. A little earthy with a touch of funk upfront that quickly segues into tart cherries. There’s a hint of sweetness but it’s well in the rear. This lambic certainly focuses more on the tartness than some other available lambics and I salute Hanssens for that. Solid respectable tartness right upfront makes me pucker immediately. The sourness is in check though and combines with a touch of sweetness on the swallow. There’s some earthiness but it stays in the background and lets the tart cherries take the lead without being overbearing. This lambic is all at once spritzy, sour, tart, light bodied and most importantly, refreshing. This lambic finishes bone dry and leaves you wanting more. Although I’m dry on the swallow there’s a residual cherriness that lingers long after. This is without a doubt an easy drinker. Like I said before it’s very refreshing. This 375ml is enough for me in one sitting but that’s because there’s only so much sour I can drink at any given moment. Although I’m not very well traveled when it comes to lambics this is, without a doubt, an enjoyable drinker. Whether this is a world class cherry lambic, I have yet to see but the journey should be an enjoyable one. 2/15/08

Bottle purchased at Liquor Max in Loveland, CO. Pours clear ruby with a small, frothy, off-white (pink) head, somewhat diminishing with spare lacing. Aroma is average malt (hay, straw), average hops (flowers, grass), average yeast (earth) with notes of cherry. Medium bodied, thin texture, soft carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, light sweetness, heavy acidity and bitterness.

Bottle (375ml). I wish I would’ve noted the vintage on this, it’s at least a year or two old but I honestly have no idea, it could be more. Pours a slightly hazy amber-red with practically no head. Aroma’s funky along with wood, sour cherry and citrus. Sour flavour of lemons, tart fruit, yeast, wood and white wine. A bit of sweetness hidden in there. Dry finish with what I swear tastes like pepper. Flat mouthfeel yet also acidic, medium bodied. This is one sour, funky mo-fo, it’s hurting my teeth! Still, it’s a pretty good one.