Liefmans Glühkriek

Brewed by Liefmans (Moortgat)
Style: Fruit Beer
Oudenaarde, Belgium

Serve in Flute

75cl bottle courtesy of Erzbierschof, warmed to 70C. Pours a clear dark red -- and quite the gusher. Smells faintly of spices, and sweet cherries. Tastes of sweet tart cherries, and christmas spices. Quite an interesting treat!

Served warm: A nice ruby darker red colored beer with no head. Smell cinnamon, light cherry and some cloves. Taste is very nice medium sweet cherry with hints of cinnamon, cloves and a light hint of sweet dough. Light bitter, nice. No carbo, medium to lightly fuller body, soft mouthfeel and a texture between creamy and watery.

Sampled @ Bierparadijs Meer. Clear dark red color, no head. Smell cinnamon and clove. Taste cinnamon, clove, cherries and sour. A bit harsh finish.

Bottle @ Ølkonsortiet christmas beer tasting. Served cold. Pours deep dark red with a very small offwhite head. Aroma of sweet fruit, cherries, sugar, cinnamon. Taste is plums, riasin, cherries, sugar, cinnamon, cloves. Full body, low carbonation. 051111

Djupröd färg med lågt skum. Stor söt körsbärskärnedoft, färsk trä, lite som att lukta på ett avsågat trä med sötsyrlig sav, men också iite läskedrycksvarning. Sött! För sött vilket är ett genomgående problem hos Liefmans. Kanske kan det förlåtas då det ska vara glühwinekaraktär här. Men då behövs mer alkoholstyrka, mer kropp, mer kärvhet, mer syra för att matcha sötman. Fin balans i kryddningen som finstämt matchar körsbären. Mer smaker kommer fram i rumstemperatur än vid 70 grader. Men då har man också en annan referensram eftersom man då jämför med andra kriek. Ändå 3 för den fina körsbärssmaken som finns där när man vant sig vid sötman.

29/06 0.75 l bottle courtesy of ogivlado, thanks for passing it to me and Marko! Tasted it cold and at about 70°.
At app 5° it had dark cherry body with almost no head and almost no carbonation. Fine sour cherry aroma. Sweetish biscuit and juicy flavor, spicy with lot of cloves and cinnamon. Simple, but very juicy with no alcohol felt.
Upon warming it got a medium bigger head and released lot of carbonation (obvious now why it’s low carbonated). Fine wintery aroma, not far from a Gluhwein, cinnamon, spicy, sour with some cherry. Possible some citrus peel as well. Sourish cherry flavor, similar to other cherry beers, quite similar of course to the cold version, but actually much more complex as the spices are so much more prominent now. Cinnamon is the most prominent of those, along with lemon peel, cloves and slight sugar, just as in a Gluhwein. A very interesting experience for sure, and as a lover of boiled wines, I like this one as well, only the season of drinking was wrong.

Schöne tiefrote Farbe mit leichter Schaumbildung. Im Geruch Kirsche und Zimt. Leicht wahrnehmbar auch Nelken und Apfelsine. Geschmacklich wird die Kirsche fast von den oben genannten Gewürzen überdeckt. Das Glühkriek hinterläßt einen alkoholischen und gewürzten Abgang in der Kehle. Für meinen Geschmack fehlt es dem Bier an Gleichgewicht. Zu sehr drängt sich das Zimtaroma in den Vordergrund. Auf Grund der Tatsache, daß mir Glühwein noch nie so richtig geschmeckt hat, kann ich mir ein Glühkriek zur Adventszeit schon eher vorstellen. Ein "richtiges" Kriek gefällt mir aber besser.Test vom 16.2.2007, Gebinde: Glasflasche

0.75l bottle, shared with heavy.
Tasted both cold and hot. Pours a red-carmine body with a medium thick white head. Cold, it has a pungent nose of dried figs and cherry. Tea-like spiciness based on a heavy sweet cherry presence, cinnamon? Speculaas? Orange peel? Dunno, quite unique and interesting. Warm, it actually loses some of its complexity but is as enjoyable, far more than most Glühwein I’ve had.