Zoetzuur Flemish Reserve Ale

750 mL bottle. Pours hazy rust brown with very tight ivory head and very serious lacing. The aroma has an oaky, musty, lactic sourness to it, along with some caramel, molasses, and floral tones. The flavor is fruity, almost tropical at first, but leads quickly to the sourness. It’s a smooth sort of sour, though, and doesn’t pucker. Nice raisin and caramel malts hold it up, even an occasional bit of toast. The finish is whisky and raisins, with a little bit of lemon-like sourness and must. The sour and woody tones linger in a very soft aftertaste which after a long time gets very vinous. This is some tasty stuff.

Ah, yes. Loves me some Flemish ale. This is slightly more sweet than a Petrus Bruin or a Monks Cafe. Goes down easy and would be a great gateway Flemish ale for the uninitiated.

750ml - Aroma is sweet/sour red wine vinegar and cherry. Pours red/brown with a big creamy head and lasting lacing. Flavor is similar to aroma with a rusty metallic aftertaste. Palate is thin. Tasy, but not sour enough for me.

25 oz bottle, via STEPHENDR. Pours a slightly hazy reddish orange body under a foamy two finger beige head. Nice retention due to the moderate visible carbonation. Aroma is very lightly tart with alot of earthiness. Notes of sour cherries, sugar, and yeast. A little bit of a metallic note also. Flavor has a subdued earthy tartness, light acidity, some cherry skins, and light yeast. A light, not fully developed, brett character on the finish. Mouthfeel doesn’t seem quite as attenuated as I’d like, giving a little bit of a heavier and thicker body. Moderate fizzy carbonation does cut it a little. Just not as crisp and dry as I’d like. This was OK, but nowhere near as aggressive and crisp as I’d like. I think that if this sat for a while longer then the brett would have a chance to ramp up a bit, cleaning up some of the risidual sugars and making it more to my tastes.

Pour is a medium dark reddish brown with a pretty nice off-white head. Aroma of fruit, sour apples, oak, and cherries. Flavor is mostly tart with a little bit of sweetness. Cherries, apple, some spice, and wood. Dry and slightly acidic. Medium mouthfeel with a fairly large amount of carbonation.

750mL bottle, no date. Pours a cloudy brown with slightly reddish highlights and a one finger creamy yellowish white head--very good retention. Aroma right up front is tart and acidic. There is also some sour green apples, funk, and oak. Flavor is much the same with a little bit of cork and very little sweetness, save for a bit of sweet citrus halfway through the swallow. There is some slight Band-Aid, though not too detracting. Dry acidic finish. Alcohol is not noticeable. Moderate to high carbonation with a medium body. Overall pretty good. The side of the label said "sweet-sour," but luckily there wasn’t too much to ruin it or anything.

I finally remove a troublesome cork to pour a beer with a hazy, amber/brown body below an ecru head which settles slow and rocky. Tart, yeasty aromas of sour cherries, leather, lemon, feet, cellar mustiness... I feel almost perverted to admit that I can’t wait to taste it. Flavor is rather mild, but only a slight letdown from what was expected in the aroma. Sourness competes with a bittersweetness leaving the impression of having eaten a bunch of Sweetarts and having finally gotten used to them. Mid-bodied... fluffy and dry yet the flavors are allowed to linger. Very good as an introductory Sour. I think my expectations for this style have gotten more stringent... for which I blame Rodenbach and Verhaeghe.

<font size=-4>750ml from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/illinois/elmhurst/sal’s-beverage-world-(elmhurst)/4540.htm>Sal’s Beverage World, Elmhurst, IL 60126</font>

Pours a dark mahogany honey w/ a full, semi creamy froth that reduces slowly to a creamy puddle. Aroma of aged dry fruits and granite. Medium nectar w/ ample residual Champagne effers. The mouthfeel is a soft cotton cream texture. Theres a mild sweetness w/ an overlying moderate sour character. About the same tartness as in a well made margarita. Flavors of undeveloped pears, wild green apples, Bordeaux cask, cedar, slight moscato grapes, and sulpher. Finish is bittered w/ a sour note. Complex and delightful. Highly recommended.