Rodenbach Alexander

Formerly brewed at Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm)
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Roeselare, Belgium

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

Rating number 4600. A long time want list item thanks to bu11zeye. A pretty old bottle from what I remember hearing. Pours with a brown body and minimal head. The aroma is hugely vinous with port and oxidation. Very fruit forward. Cherries caramel and wet horseblanket. Flavors are tart, fruity and hugely vinous! Cherry candy, oxidation and a ton of caramelization. Some light carbonation left.. Probably not the same beer that it was a decade ago, but still extremely tasty!

Bottle. Ruby colour with a big beige head. Vineger, fruity aroma and a sweet sour, acid, cherry, fruity taste. Medium to full body with a sweet sour, dry finish.

Pours red and muddy with a generous tannish head. Smells vinegary with some tartness and barnyard qualities. From the first sip to the finish, there is an underlying sourness only matched in the greatest ecamples of this style. Some nice woody qualities are also quite pronounced. The oak aging did this one well.

UPDATED: AUG 12, 2004 Immense thanks to Barry for sharing one of the rarer than I'd like to believe bottles still around Clear light brown, maybe a slight haze. Small sticky off-white head. Aroma is very vinous, sweet cherries in abundance, well defined with obvious oak aged character that I love. Downright excellence in here, makes you wish you could bathe in one of Rodenbach's legendary oak casks. Nose also deploys light tartness and a bit of brown sugar. Great taste, very refreshing, full-flavoured cherries, very sweet and tart at the same time. You actually feel the seeds and branches a bit which is surprising considering that they used a cherry extract to my knowledge. Tons of oak, just lovely. This is a glorious meeting, but I must confess it could be a bit drier to fit my tastes perfectly, they've already done that with the grand cru though! Great tart aftertaste with more barrel character being revealed, this seems to support age wonderfully and shows no signs of fatigue for those still holding on some bottles, wonderfully lactic still. Thin-medium body, just appropriate and supported by medium carbonation. There is no way any good reason exists and is sufficient to end the production of this fine beer. RIP Alex.

Big thanks to TChrome for this. I didn’t know this was retired. Pours turbid ruby/amber with medium off-white head. Aroma of big sour cherries, figs, oak, malt. Tastes krieky, with some figs, oak, and malty sweetness at the finish. It is sour, don’t misunderstand, but it is balanced by a malty sweetness. Wonderfully balanced, with a solid complexity. Many lambics taste like melted Jolly Rancher candy to me. This one is the real deal....complex, balanced, and ass-kicking. In my opinion, this one is up there with the New Glarus Red and Tart. A wonderful beer. Why did they retire this bad boy?

Bottle, thanks to Styles!! 1996, I believe. Poured crystal clear medium garnet with just a few loose bubbles of head sticking around. The aroma was sublime.. sweet, softer cherries and berries pair with light vinegary skins, some oak, and dusty funk.. everything blended perfectly. The flavor had a seductive moderate cherry and berry skin sourness running through it.. the oak presence was well-integrated.. mild deep cherry meat and oxidation on the back-end.. slowly rolled off the finish and left a long impression. Lower carbonation on the palate with ideal balance.. I can’t believe how well this held up!

Bottle at de heren(or however you speel it) BBF 1995. Aroma is sweet very attractive tartness, fruity, the age is subtle and delicate, the sherry is infinitly awsome, its just like a beer you could nose for ever. The taste is like sweet and sour sex, its possibly the most drinkable thing to have ever massed my lips, the fruity sweetness with the age and the balanced sourness make it quite simply ione of the best things iv ever drank. A masterpiece.

Two bottles, one on display, graciously shared by EDA, thank you mike! Pours an amber brown body with a big tan head. Sweet dry woody tannins. Light oak, sour and tart but not mouth puckering. Balsamic, grapes and some light cherries. Awesome!!