Rodenbach Grand Cru

Brewed by Brouwerij Rodenbach (Palm)
Style: Sour Ale
Roeselare, Belgium

bottle, nice and stable white/beige head, red/brown colour. Smells very fruity. Taste: sharp sweet, sour, a bit bitter,dried fruit, vinegar, oaky. A refreshing, special and well tasting ale.

Colore rosso scuro un pò torbido,schiuma beige di media densità.Aroma delicato di frutti rossi,sentori di vino,pare Lambrusco.Mediamente acida,leggermente alcoolica e acida nel finale lungo.

Bottle. Pours a deep brown with a medium sized creamy beige head. Nice wood and a touch of chocolate, and some light funky notes. Medium bodied, with a little bit of chocolate, malt, and a touch of sweetness. Touch of light vinegar on the finish, mostly balsamic, and nice wood notes.

Pours a black cherry color smells of red wine like a vinegar dark fruits citrus taste like apples and grapes almost sweet like champagne and then finishes dry good for one or two lots of flavor interesting beer because its so wine like

Pours a deep brown with cherry hue. Aroma is strong of balsamic vinegar with a background of champagne grapes. Flavor is rich balsamic and champagne grapes. There’s a fizzy champagne-like carbonation. Tart fruit flavors emerge more as it warms. By the end, there’s a lovely tartness. This is really good.

Bottle. Reddish-brown beer with a slight haze. Aroma is slightly sharp, with hints of fruit. Taste is similar with strong suggestions of cherry and raspberry. Very tart taste. Do not taste hops but there are a lot of flavour sensations in this beer that I would be challenged to describe in words.

750 mL bottle from South Bay Drugs ($9.99). Pours a dark ruby-brown with thin layer of light tan head that quickly disappears. Tart aroma mainly of vinegar but also wood and fruit (cherry, grape, berry). Based on the nose, I expected this to be very sour but it’s well-balanced. The tart flavor is there with the acidic taste of vinegar and also sour cherry and the expected wood taste. But there’s a bit of pleasant fruity sweetness (cherry and tart raspberries) as well that is refreshing. Finish is a little tart, but not puckeringly so. Complex and good but not sure if I’ll be able to finish off this whole bottle. I’m not that familiar with sour ales, but thought this would be a good place to start, especially before the Stone Sour Fest this weekend.

Poured a well carbonated, very cloudy, almost opaque, seriously dark red/brown colour with a foamy tan head. The head was of short duration and left virtually no lacing on departure. The aroma was spicy with some fruit undertones, and I’m thinking molasses along with sour cherry. Both the aroma and taste were unlike any other beer I’ve come across. The taste was slightly sweet with a sour aftertaste, again the sour cherry. Bloody amazing is this stuff! Sour without being the "other" sour you get from a nasty beer that’s gone off. Those Belgians - how do they do it?