Liefmans Goudenband

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

Pours a dark brown with red highlights, small lasting head and very murky body with floaties all over the place. Interesting aroma that is not as sour as I expected. There’s some caramel and brown sugar, vinous grapes, pears, light pinches of vinegar, mushrooms, and a light cheesy funk. Taste is surprisingly sweet, and very balanced. It’s got plenty of sweet caramel and brown sugar malt, plenty of cherry flavor, some toast, vinegar...very vinous, but very sweet. Just a deep deep flavor. A fair amound of wood too, I forgot to notice that earlier. Finishes with a surprisingly buttery earthy flavor (hops??) but it’s still a bit cloying and doesn’t dry out enough even if some dry earthy flavor remains behind. Feels full bodied for the style and very slick (which I guess is the norm.) and the alcohol is completely hidden. Anyway, I’m not the hugest fan of the style, but I loved this! Fascinating flavor, the sourness is a team player (not the feature), and it’s totally drinkable. I’m gonna buy some more tomorrow.

Bottle... 2005 stamped on the cork. Just from the outside looking in you can see the ammount of floaties waiting to be unleashed into a nice glass. Pour is a dark brown, and a lot of the floaties escape into the glass. Right now they are rollicking around being pushed all over the place by the carbonation that is pouring up from the bottom. Head is smallish, especially considering all the carbonation. Aromas are complex but subtle: caramel malts, a promise of something a little tart... maybe like a tart cherry aroma, some brown sugar, some dried fruits, etc. Flavor is fantastic. Starts out with a brown sugar and dried fruit sweetness, but the sugars aren’t sticking around long and they are replaced by a tart (green apple/pie cherry) finish.

[From bottle at Le Petit Moulinsart] Ruddy dark copper with a thin lacy head. Complex aroma including obvious sourness and a little horseblanket. Fruitiness: strawberry and banana. Felt smooth and creamy with a medium body. Flavour includes some bitterness and orange, but is very complex. Perfect balance of sour, bitter, and warmth. Excellent.

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.

37,5 cl bottle @ biergasthof schiffner. Lovely smell of freshly baked bread. Its dark mahogany brown in colour with a brown head. Marvelously balanced between its sweet start and tart finish. Simply gorgeous and fresh.

330ml corked and wrapped in white paper. I got this at a ghetto ass liquor store in Twickenham(south west London) called Bubbles. This might have been on the shelf for a year or 2...which is a cool bonus with me. This is good shit...It resembles a glass of mud but you get aromas of earth,tart fruit and spices with dark malt . Nice. :Its a complex and eazy to drink beer all in 1. Chocolate covered earth...dusty big malt skylines ..streams of mild cherries ...wild and free,with subtle sweetness.The booze is masked very well.

Dark reddish brown with a big pale beige head that settles slowly and leaves a nicely looking lid of foam. Distinct aromas of overripe fruit (apples), some sweet candy-like aromas, raisins, light phenols, a faint note of funky barn, wood and tart vinegar. A pleasant smell full of character. A fantastic taste, just really really good. A great blend of sweetness and tartness develops in the mouth with the sweetness taking just the slightest of leads. Notes of cherries, apples, plums and some raisins. A faint note of sweet candy. Some vinegar, wet wood and a note of daring yet subtle yeast. The finish is gently bitter with a rich tartness mixed with some phenols, minerals and raisins. This is just a very tasty brew. Medium body, well balanced carbonation. Slightly chewy and sticky in the mouth with a somewhat dry finish. I really like Goudenband, nothing but a classic. It’s just unbelievably tasty. Very easy to drink as well and I can easily drink a 750 ml bottle of this stuff by myself. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

Updated: I finally got my bottle with better carbonation and it was vastly improved. Incredible beer, very big toasty malt start, caramel earthy tones, plum, prune, big cherry. Good sourness with a long cherry finish. Not sure on the quality of this bottle, upon uncorking there was very little pressure in the bottle, had to pour very hard to get any head on it at all. From the aroma I was expecting this beer to be much more sour and acidic, but the flavor showed more sweet fruit and subtle carmel flavors. Tastes very much like a cran-grape juice up front on the palate, only after it settles in do you get any wild yeast flavors and some subtle sour notes. Very watery on the palate with just a gentle acidity to it. I’d like to compare this to a bottle that has a bit more carbonation to see if I can get a bit more of the Flemish Sour out of it.