Hanssens Oude Kriek

Brewed by Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Dworp, Belgium

Bottle: Aroma is mostly sour with a hint of cherries. Has somewhat of a vinegar smell to it. Pours a dark hazy reddish-orange with virtually no head. The flavor definitely has cherry but it’s a sour cherry. Slightly carbonated with a wine-like texture. My first lambic and it’s very interesting. If it was just a tad bit sweeter my rating would be much higher. It's no Berliner Kindl Weisse (in sourness), but it is just a tad too much on the sour side. The rating also takes a slight hit because of the aroma.

The beer dispenses from the 375ml green wired and corked bottle a deep luminous orange with a minimal in size head that is frothy and the color and off white, the remaining lace a velum like film to cover the class. Nose sweet with a tart backing, fresh and pleasing to the eye and nose, start is sweet with the top light in feel. Finish is stinging in its acidity, sour, vinous, exceedingly dry, a drinkable beer.

Tart sweet cherry aroma, light hops. Smooth. Copper-strawberry red clear with no head. Medium bodied with medium-fizzy carbonation. Very tart start, heavy acidity, great cherry flavor. Heavy gueuze wheat finish, with cherry tart chalky bitter finish.

Smells like a bad foot infection. Apple vinegar like aroma with a touch of sweetness. Tastes like vinagrette salad dressing. This stuff is awesome. I drank Duchess de Burgongne and petrus oak aged pale ale yesterday and thought those were sour. This is way more sour. I’m loving it right now. Rerate 081405: Just want to add that it reminds me aof Cuvee de Tomme. Very good balance of sour and touch of sweetness. Increased score from 3.9 to 4.2

Aroma of cherries. Exceptionally good cherries. Also oak and some dusty spices. Very beautifull coloured; cloudy dark red. Head is small, little reddish luckily not so pink. Head disappears. Taste is tart/sour. fruity (quite good cherries again). Oaky. Bit sweet, i dunno i got the feeling, the beer I had was too young. Luckily I have another (older bottle) so perhaps in a few years I get back on this one.

Hazy red amber in colour. Aroma of cherries, barnyard with a great sourness. Flavour of cherries, very tart and sour - quite gueuze like, woody with a slight sweetness. Dry mouthfeel, medium body. Finishes with a great cherry sourness, tart and dry. Wonderful stuff.

Lambics are an acquired taste that I apparently haven’t developed yet (after 40 years of beer drinking), and I hesitate to rate this on those grounds... but I drank it, so here goes. The reddish/orange color looked good and the aroma was... uh, interesting. But to me it truly tasted like a carbonated Robitussim DM (cough medicine). Sipping, gulping... nothing made it easier for me to drink. Oh, well. I didn’t like Brussel sprouts as a kid, and I enthusiuastically eat them now. I’ll give this a try in a year or two and revise my rating.

Bottle from Pitfield Beer Shop, London. 375ml corked bottle. Sharp, acidic lambic that is never overwhelmed with fruity sweetness. Tart and refreshing.