Rodenbach

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

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

4 May 2011, bottle. ruby/brown colour, clear, occasional bubbles. cherry and sweet balsamic vinaigrette nose. med/ thin body and fairly fizzy and crisp. taste is rather thin. While nose is more balsamic, taste is a bit more cherry tartness, though with a definite sour edge. nice. not very sour for a belgian sour but ok.

25 cl bottle, stumbled upon at a local "Vinmonopol". This is my first sour beer!! The shelf tag only said "tastes a little like wine". Alright. It pours a dark red/brown with a small head. Aroma of vinegar and wood, and slightly reminiscent of red wine. Sour taste (duh!), maybe some bitterness in the aftertaste. Light body, crisp, with soft yet somewhat lively carbonation. Surprisingly refreshing! Whoa! Quite vinous flavor. Fruity. I’m getting green apples and pears, and some other stuff I can’t quite put my finger on. A woody cherry kind of flavor. And some redcurrants, perhaps? Some woody notes in the aftertaste. Definitely the most interesting beer I’ve had in a while - and the most surprising! I was really afraid that I wouldn’t like sour beers, but this is a great start to my sour beer career! I’m enjoying this in a way I’d never thought possible! Yum!

To me, the sourness is somewhat hair-raising and weird, but I still find this beer strangely enjoyable! I didn’t see that coming! Makes me think of the sour candy we used to eat as kids, that face-twisting beautiful insanity we loved to hate and hated to love! (OK, that was reasonably poetic, so I’ll end this rating here.)

Bottle 25 cl from De Bierkoning, Amsterdam. Poured dark copper in colour with tan head. Light sour vinegar notes in aroma. Flavour quite mild with slight hints of sourness.

25cl bottle. Pours a reddish-brown colour with a nice shine. There is a nice lacy head. The nose is of tart fruit and oaky tannins. The taste is more tart fruit, maybe somewhere between cherry and raspberry. The palate has good depth of flavour, a thick middle section and a tangy, sour, refreshing finish.

Rating #535, bottle from Ølbutikken

Deep red beer with ok head. Aroma is sweet cherry sauce, wood, wine and of course a bunch of sourness. Taste is pleasantly sour, sweet cherries and a bit of wood in the background. Sour, sweet finish. Almost untraceable bitterness. Medium palate. A nice one.

I poured a 330ml can into an oversize wine glass.

Appearance: Beautiful mahogany hue, mostly hazy but translucent. Forms a small, off-white, soapy head that fizzles away quick and doesn’t retain or lace very well.

Smell: Almost exactly like grape juice. A very sour/tart scent with a distinct grape or berry aroma. Not as cutting as some more potent beers, it’s actually very inviting.

Taste: I’ve never tasted a beer that was so close to red win with such a low ABV. Rodenbach is technically a Flanders Red and not a dubbel so it has the lighter, crisper body with the vinous qualities coming from the niche yeast strain. It’s noticeably tart, somewhat sour, but surprisingly sweet throughout. The juicy/fruity scents are equally present in the mouth, with just a slight bitterness on the second half. The sourness lingers lightly so it’s enough to notice, but doesn’t go to any extremes. A very tasty beer in many ways!

Mouthfeel: thin, slightly sharp but not like a liquid sword.

Drinkability: This is probably one of the best starter sour beers available today. The fruit and juice flavors and thin mouthfeel make it easy to drink as it slides across the tongue with no resistance. The beer is only 5.2% ABV and the palate is restrained enough that it isn’t a sipper, although I can be drank as such and still be enjoyable.

Overall, a very impressive beer. Especially considering it come in a can!

To sum up this beer: An easy drinking, refreshing sour. Great sessionability with mild tartiness

0.25l bottle. Pours a deep red body with a thin quickly fading tanned head. Aroma is oaky, sweet and sour cherries, hints of strawberries, dried fruits and some thin yeast. Body is medium, texture is oily and the carbonation is quite low. First flavors are quite woody-sour and tarty, then it glides over to a new kind of sour/bitterness, much like the white part of a lemon zest tastes. Strange stuff with these bouncing flavors. Ends in a slightly cherry-sweet finish and has a woody and somewhat watery finish. Must admit that I did not find this to refreshing, but I can see that some does.