Zoetzuur Flemish Reserve Ale

Unclear dark golden body, big bubbled white head, fast away; medium sized nose which is super sweet and very simple: above all and almost covering everything else is tons of flat 1-dimensional CARAMEL, behind it and well hidden there is a little fruity cherry and a quite unpleasant stank of dishcloth; the body has some balance, a little sour part tries to step out, but it is overpowered by sweetness (even though it is this sweet, the texture is still quite watery); the sweetness just grow into a very long finish, that has a chewy caramel like character with a little sourness behind. I am very, very surprised by this beer. I had looked a lot forward to trying it, but the zuur part it not really existing and totally overpowered by the zoet part. I properly wouldn’t even have guessed it was a Flemish sour ale, if I was drinking this one blind. Once again thank you very, very much Jeppe (Bierkönig) for pulling this one out of you collection.

Unclear amber colored with an orange glow and a foamy off-white head. Fruity aroma with a note of wood and prune. Smells a bit old and lack some sourness. Flavor is fruity and perfrumed, a bit odd with a candied sweet finish. Not bad, but for a sour ale it lacks some sourness for sure. IMO, overrated!

750 ML bottle: Medium amber body w/a short lived, thin, white head. Intial aroma is of a cherry lollipop. A bit of sourness and sweetness at the same time. A bit earthy & woody w/a slight herbal hop aroma. light medium toasty malt w/a moderate barnyardy brett aroma to boot. Not overly sour in the flavor. A bit more than tart, but definitely not sour! Nice toasted malt flavor. For some reason I’m getting a sour cherry fruitiness out of this even though it’s not a fruit beer. Very well balanced as it warms as the tartness disappears into the sweet malt. Aftertast is a little barnyardy and earthy. Finish is well balanced. Medium body, medium carbonation, well hidden alcohol. A pretty good beer as far as sours go! The tartness fades as the beer warms and the bretty character does not completely dominate either.

Interesting to say the least. Fruity smells coming all out of the bottle. Pours dark red color with a slightly red tint to the head. Taste is fruity, sour, pleasing, and gets easier to drink as it dirties up the palate. A pretty nice beer in this style that I am slowly coming very accostomed to. A pretty damn good sour beer.

RATING # 2345

Corked bottle from Wolhfs and served in my Saint Bernardus glassware:
Poured a luminous reddish hue with a small but forever lasting frothy head and good lace. (note that the second pour was not nearly as clean)
The nose is very much sour and sweet cherries along with notes of horseblanket yeast esters, oaky wood, and some mineral qualities.
The flavors are about what I expected with a nice acidic fruit forefront and yeasty background. I found some lingering undeveloped sugars mostly appearing more towards the finish, but that hardly kept me from enjoying the brew. I would classify this has an early afternoon sour, nothing that strips your taste buds for the day.
Despite the sweetness, the finish is dry and chalky with lingering cherry flavors. A solid brew for sure, hit the spot.

Bottle. Ruby-amber color with a great off-white head. Tart aroma with cherries/strawberries, malt and a bit of dust. Sweet/tart flavor - nice fruitiness (again cherry/strawberry). Sweetness cuts any acidic tendencies. Nice balance, but could be a bit more tart. Nice complexity. A bit of a fruit roll-up flavor, but doesn’t take much away. Sweeter than most sours.

My second gift to myself for defending my Ph. D. hazy amber colour, thin off-white lace. Beautiful oaky aroma, vanilla notes over a prominent sweet/sour cherry flavour. Good lactic/acetic balance. Woody complexity overlying a sweet malty backbone. Flavour is a bit less bright than the aroma would suggest, but still has a good sour cherry flavour, light plummy malts as well. A bit of peppery flavour in back. Some nice funky wildness about the beer as well. Quite a stylish brew.

Brilliant copper with off-white head, fades to film. Sour aroma, very musty and dry. Seems like it has a few years on it already. Flavor again very musty-woodsy, with some sourness, but nothing like you would expect. Sour cherries turn to sweet candied cherries near the finish. Very dry finish. Have another bottle to try here shortly, hopefully it fares better.