Liefmans Goudenband

Brewed by Liefmans (Moortgat)
Style: Sour Ale
Oudenaarde, Belgium

Aroma: I don’t know where to start. Cherry, sherry, dark fruits, fruity alcohol, woody, some sour acetic character, very complex, I get something different every time. Lovely. Appearance: Brown, somewhat cloudy, low head retention. Flavor: Just as complex as the aroma. Not as sour as I imagined, with a pleasant sweetness in the finish, although enough sourness to keep it interesting. Well balanced. Palate: Very drinkable, not crazy sour, medium bodied, with moderate carbonation. Alcohol well hidden, not harsh. Overall: Perfect. What else does a beer drinker need?

Dark and a little murky with a basic brown color and a light tan colored head. Nose is lightly pungent spoiled plums, oak and maple wood. Nice subtle sourness in the nose, tingling I would say. Sweet up front and over the middle, a bit fizzy and frothy, lightly sour and pungent, certainly not like a gueuze or more standard Flemish sour, but it performs well as a sour brown ale. Some toffee and cake flavors in the finish, and some sour tobacco as well. Not bad.

My first beer in this style, and it really blew me away. Dark brown with a large foamy head. Very wine like, with lovely tartness. Some sweet malts too, toasty and metallic, making for a great complex palate, and a long finish.

2005 vintage served in a snifter glass. Crystal clear red in color. Lots of floaters and lees from a an greedy pour. Modest, diminishing tan head. Tantalizing aroma of dark sour fruit and a mild caramelized malts. Flavor: Wow! Starts with toasted malt and rapidly turns sour and spicy. Palate is light-medium, richer than expected, and the substantial carbonation sparkles on my tongue. Finish is sour. There is a little lacing left on the glass. This beer is more complex and lacks some of the strong acetic character that is present in many of the other Flemish Sour Ales I have sampled. I am looking forward to the next before I have even finished this one!

this beer is pretty sour. it is also quite a bit dark. pretty nice. starts tasting better the more you drink.

delicious. sour berryish taste. only flaw is its sweetness. complex delicious funkyness.

Dark brown in colour and quite fizzy. Aromas of malt, coffee, a bit of smoke, stewed prunes, and sour red berries. In the mouth it’s fairly malty to start, but the red berry, sour cherry, and earthy hop undertones show themselves mid-sip. Eventually we move into more woody, vanilla territory with some vineous and light lemon sourness carrying through until the end. The richness of the palate and the fizzy carbonation seem at odds rather than achieving some sort of balance. A bit too sweet and heavy to be considered top class, but still very damn good.

0.375l bottle at the Hopdevil in Zagreb
Poured a murky, dark. opaque red-brown colour with only a small dirty white ring of head. A distinct red wine-like nose, berries, a bit acidic, a touch of malt and yeast. Fresh and likable. The taste is very pleasant and the mouthfeel is superb. Berries, wood, yeast (funky), weak notes of prickly pear and/or bubblegum. A nice, "medium" (for a FSA) acidity, that carries loooong in the aftertaste. Not a tremendous variety of notes and flavours, but what little it has merges perfectly to create a harmonious taste, and no off tastes like in some other FSAs. All in all, a fine, very fine FSA.