Struiselensis

Brewed by De Struise Brouwers
Style: Sour Ale/Wild Ale
Oostvleteren, Belgium

Serve in Snifter, Tulip, Tumbler

Bottle. Hazy orange colour with a very thin white head. Sour aroma with hints of some fruits. The flavour is also very sourish and fruity, notes of apples and yeast. Very short aftertaste and acidic mouthfeel. Not bad for a sour ale.

I know full well that Flemish sours are a challenging style to get into, so I’m a long way from giving this kind of beer my highest ratings. That said, the hazy, pale gold appearance with hints of lacing are nice, and the nose is pleasantly sour with farm notes. The puckeringly sour taste is roughly on par with most Baco Noirs: intense with a short, very dry, juicy finish, a bit like like pomegranate concentrate. Even a hint of pineapple in the finish. Smooth, almost flat and thick body. But it just tastes too much like stomach acid to be enjoyable to me, even if that is the point. My apologies to the Flemish Sour diehards are there, but I just can’t enjoy this.

gold pour with a nice white head. Aroma is heavy lemon tartness and a bit of white wine. More lemon goodness in the flavor along with grape skin, mild brett funk, and a touch of hay. Tart acidic finish, just a tad watery.

Bottle: (Thanks kosko20!) Pours a hazy golden with a dense white film of head. Has a crisp fruity nose of sour apple skins, mild white wine, green grapes and a touch of leather/cherry-pit brett character. Has a light and fluffy body. Lemony tartness dominate the fore of the flavor, lightly acidic. The tartness fades fairly quickly into some musty Belgian yeast character and mild lactic notes. The flavor are somewhat simple, and brief. Not as complex as many good examples, but still decent.

11.2 oz bottle pours a hazy apricot hued body with a tiny white head that quickly falls. Very little lacing but the body exhibits a lot of active carbonation. Subtle aroma has white grape skins and a hint of earthy moist oak. Sour and tart, almost like a geuze. Low carbonation. Taste has some fruity green apple and plenty of tannins. Not a lot of funkiness here. This one is quite drinkable and tasty but needs some aging for the wild yeasts to work their magic.

11.2 oz. bottle. Clear, light golden color. Thin, bubbly white head. Aroma of tart citrus fruit and some earthy elements. Clean, fresh, dry mouthfeel. Carbonation is just right. Sour flavor is nicely balanced with a spicy kick. Refreshing finish with some funky elements.

Really pretty clean and very refreshing. Not too sour. Lots of hay and melon, fairly sweet. A session sour if you will.

11 oz. bottle into Corsendonk tulip; purchased at West Lakeview Liquors, Chicago. Bubbles swirl in a vortex on the pour, active and all over the place before a fizzy white head emerges and a tower of bubbles cascades up the middle of the hazy light orange-yellow beer like an underwater geyser. Melony acid and crisp yeast aromas waft from the glass on the pour; a nose stuck in the glass reveals some wood, but mostly this smells like a nice gueuze. Foam is very active on top, lacing is thick and sudsy and very cohesive. Wow. Great balance in the flavor. The sourness seems like it’s going to ramp up into a burst like a good gueuze, but then it backs off right before it forces the saliva to gush underneath your tongue. The receding sour leaves delicate yeasty things, melon, and honey on the tongue. Unlike my favorite lambics, this doesn’t really dry out, but it works, keeping it refreshing. Some pale malts mingle with the melony sourness in the finish, which isn’t exceptionally long or poignant, but nice enough. There are some apples in there too, right in the beginning and middle. This beer is right up my alley. All hail Struise.