Strubbe Grand Cru

Brewed by Brouwerij Strubbe
Style: Sour Red/Brown
Ichtegem, Belgium

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

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On tap at the Greeks in Narberth PA. Pours a beautiful ruby red. No head or lacing. Tart raspberry nose. Mouthfeel is light and very dry. Taste is tart but not overwhelmingly so. Nice mix of raspberry, lime and other berries. Very drinkable for a sour. Reminds me of Duchesse de Bourgone. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

The aroma is pretty strongly sour/tart with some dark fruit. The taste is mildly tart with oak notes, sweetness and a bit of a boozey finish.

A fairly strong sourness to the aroma. Looks fine. The flavor has a bit of sourness to it but some sugary sweetness as well that I don’t really like. The flavor is okay as a result but not the finish. Better sours out there.

Bottle. Pours a clear dark ruby body with a nice frothy beige head that left some nice sticky lacing. The nose is a mix of sweet caramel, oak, tart cherry fruitiness, and a touch of vinegar. The flavor is pretty weak, there’s not much intensity to it, making it seem a bit watery. Some light cherry like tartness, some minimal light vinegar, a bit of woodiness on the back end. Finishes with a bit of a wet cereal grain note. The lightness of flavor makes it pretty easy drinking, but I’d like a little more body. Light bodied with soft gentle carbonation. Not sure I care for this one all that much, it needs a bit more of an edge.

Brownish red, huge beige head. Smells like cherry, balsamic vinegar, and maybe a little oak. Flavor is pretty much the same - cherry. balsamic, and oak. Perhaps a few citrus notes, too.

Tasted on 3/3/13 from a capped 330mL bottle purchased at Grand Cru. Pours dark auburn with a very thick beige head that slowly recedes to thick and rocky lace. The nose is dark cereal malt with some caramel, and a sour red wine vinegar note underlying. The flavor is the same with the cereal up front, moving to a nice bready caramel malt, and finishing with a nice red wine vinegar note and sour tinge. The body is medium with very lively, stinging carbonation and a long sour red wine vinegar finish.

Nice ruby chestnut color. Very slight haze. No head. Complex nose: slightly sour, some bread, some hay and other funk. Pretty complex taste too: herbal sourness in contrast to the more typical lemon and cherry. Light caramel malt. Dry and very quick finish.

A steady pour into my New Belgium Globe glass produces a two finger thick, pale amber tinged, light tan colored head that leaves some nice lacing on the sides of my glass. The beer is a concentrated amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, deep red / amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells of fermenting fruit (raisins, dates) and perhaps even something floral like hibiscus; really it reminds me of concord grape juice though; tart and fruity, with a light acetic character to boot. As the beer warms up it picks up a toasted, nutty character in the aroma. Not a bad nose, but for some reason not overly appealing either.

Sweet, lots of fruity flavors, a touch of tartness (with a lingering lightly acidic bite in the finish), a nutty oxidized malt character, and perhaps a touch of funky, off fermented fruit character that lingers a bit too much on the palate. Fruit notes of green raisins, sweet concord grape juice, touches of hibiscus, and just a funky fruit character. This has a medium light body to it, with a touch of palate coating character.

Sort of seems a bit like poorly fermented fruit juice that isn’t quite done; it isn’t horrible, but I can’t put it much better than that.

Bottle poured into tulip glass. I’ll save my breath on this one. It was really bad. Cloying dirty sweetness, rotten fermenting fruit, and off-brand cola. Drainpour.

Ar: Barnyard and vinegar - some light caramel. Ap: Cloudy dark amber - huge light tan head with amazing retention, and billows of lace. T: Sour roasted caramel - highly acidic - a little caramel - lots of vinegary flavor, acidic. P: Medium-light body - high carbonation - finish is dry. O: Not terrible, but fairly one-dimensional.