Hanssens Oude Kriek

I am assuming that this 750ml bottle is about 3 years out of Belgium. I wish I could say that it were finely cared for by someone with great respect for the beer but unfortunately I believe this bottle to have been sitting in a cooler in a single file line with its traveling companions for a couple of years now, I’m assuming. I was truly expecting this beer to be pretty damn beaten up, lackluster and kind of dead…. However, a pleasing surprise I have just encountered.

The bottle is shaken up a bit… Pours a tawny amber body with a fluffy then diminishing light tan colored head. The aroma is surprisingly sweet! Big notes of ripened cherries lay beside the rather malty objective. I am having a difficult time putting this beer into words… so I will just throw out some thoughts: - Aged balsamic vinegar overtop vanilla bean ice-cream, cherry cobbler with whipping cream, almond oil, oak cask, hint of cognac, aromatic bitters, black berries, a new leather wallet or handbag, apple cider, peaches, Cyprus woods, mulling spice, New Belgium Red, pressed cabernet grapes, tart yeast and dough, walnuts,…. An insane blending of sweet and sour…. More Balsamic… which I LOVE! Honey mustard balsamic vinaigrette… that’s what it is for me!!! There is so much more oak & cheery than I was expecting from this beer, I thought it would be more Geuze like and less a fruit beer… maybe time has lessened the tartness, but I would have thought the cherry to go first. The super dry bittersweet finish causes a steady drawing of the glass to my lips with a rapid tempo. What a wonderful find this was!!!

bottle. reddish brown body with a short-lasting white ring of head. refreshing tart cherry aroma with underlying wheat characteristics. as it warms up it opens the door to funky earthy aromas. body is of juicy cherries and is so refreshingly tasty. there are some sweet notes in the finish which leaves a bit of sugary residue. very tart, funky, and wheaty. I love it.

Hazy blood-red colour. Low head. Inviting and quite dekicate aroma of tart woody notes of bitter cherries and wild yeast. Fresh and sour flavour of wood, cherries, blue grape-peels and stomach acid. Tart but quite well-balanced aftertaste of young cherries and wood. Good fruit lambic!

$5.99 for a 12.7 oz bottle at Tiffany’s in Kalamazoo. Pours a really attractive brown with a tint of orangish red. Aroma is a wooden chalky cherry. Flavor is a heafty bitterness and a light orange taste. This really comes off as too bitter, a little too wooden.

(Bottle 37,5 cl) Simply called "Hanssens Kriek" at 5% ABV. No label on the bottle. The fruit flies had found this beer before me - hundreds of them were buzzing around the slightly leaky bottles in the drinks shop- They for sure liked this beer.
Reddish brown and very flat. Extremely sour, vinegary nose making your nostrils contract almost completely. The cherries do however leave a slight hint of sweetness on your tongue. Quite an exceptional experience, but one I could’ve done without. 110700

(Bottle 37,5 cl) As "Hanssens Oude Kriek". I reckon this in principle is the same beer as the above, but not a bit stronger - and with a label.
More red than brown, small head with a pinkisk tint. Even some carbonation. Still a very sour Kriek, but not quite as extreme as the old version. 110700

Bottled. Red coloured with a small pink head. Acidic aroma of wood and lactic acid. Acidic flavour of wood, cherries and vinegar. Too acidic for my liking.

Dark auburn colour with a light chill haze. There is actually very little head, almost none. A very tart aroma, light cherry hints with some barnyard inklings and a hint of leather. A mouthfilling tartness at the front with a semi-sweet cherry beginning. Hints of leather at the back - dries off with a mouthwatering finish. A great fruit lambic - top notch.

Cloudy burgundy color, paling to a golden at the edges. Modest carbonation, small to no head. Aroma strong, some leather, cherries, maybe even apples and cranberries. Flavor: acidic doesn’t even begin to describe this! Quite sour!! Easily the sourest beer I’ve had, puckering and eye watering. Dry tart bite in the finish; causes a little indigestion on an empty stomach. Fun but limit yourself to one glass! (I tackled most of the 750!)