De Ranke - drinking order

Discussion in 'Belgium' started by monty2000, Jan 16, 2013.

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  1. monty2000

    monty2000 Initiate (0) Dec 17, 2008 Norway

    Hi

    I am going to try some beers from De Ranke in a few days with some friends. I will be very happy if someone can give me a recommended drinking orders for these beers.

    Sasion
    Noir
    Cuvee de Ranke
    Kriek de Ranke
    xx bitter.

    Suggestions ?

    Best regards
     
  2. schopenhauerale

    schopenhauerale Initiate (0) Dec 6, 2011 Arizona

    I would suggest drinking in two flights:
    1. XX Bitter - clean, bitter, but with lots of interesting spice and pepper notes; lighter than the other beers
    2. Saison - the saison is a bit heavier and sweeter and is a bit more complex
    3. Noir - dark and rich, finish with this one

    Then, take a break, clear your palate, and try the lambic-style beers.
    1. Cuvee - this is based on the kriek but without the fruit added, so start with it
    2. Kriek - tart and fruity, this is a good beer to end the De Ranke tasting with.

    Hope this was helpful for you! You might prefer to switch the order of the XX Bitter and Saison, or choose to integrate the sour beers with the first list. In any case, De Ranke makes some good stuff and it should be enjoyable no matter what order you try it in.
     
  3. monty2000

    monty2000 Initiate (0) Dec 17, 2008 Norway

  4. F2brewers

    F2brewers Maven (1,378) Mar 12, 2005 Massachusetts
    Society Trader

    At the brewery last fall, Nino took us through his entire range of beers (available at the time) in the following order:

    Saison de Dottignies (light bodied saision)
    XX Bitter (bitter blonde)
    Guldenberg (hoppy tripel)
    Noir de Dottignies (dark bodeied sasion)
    Pere Noel (hoppy amber holiday beer with licorice added)
    Hop Harvest 2012 (fresh hop beer...fantastic)
    Cuvee De Ranke (mixed flemish red/brown and lambic)
    Kriek De Ranke (mixed flemish red/brown with cherries and lambic)

    See if you can determine the age of the beers. De Ranke only uses fresh whole hops. Walking into the hop fridge was something else. When we were there in November, they hadn't produced the 2012 batches yet, so Nino apologized for the *stale* 2011 bottlings of XX and Guldenberg. That said, they were still far better (fresher, cleaner, more bitter) than the versions I've had here in the states. If you've got a hold of the 2012 version, the XX should be a (veritable) hop bomb compared to most any other Belgian brew (fe.g., fresh hop beers and Houblon Chouffe, Urthel Hop-it).

    As noted above, the Cuvee and Kriek are similar...the base beer (70% of the blend) is a flemish red/brown. It is brewed, soured and fermented by De Ranke. This is a mixed (as opposed to spontaneous) fermentation beer which uses wild bugs as well as some added by the brewery. For the Kriek, cherries are added (25% by volume) to the base beer and allowed to sit for at least 6 months. The beer is then blended with 30% lambic (spontaneous fermentation) from Girardin to make up the remainng volume of the beer. Both are quite nice.

    -Kevin.
     
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  5. UncleJimbo

    UncleJimbo Grand Pooh-Bah (3,697) Sep 11, 2002 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I knew he uses whole hops in general, but I thought the only beer that uses fresh, wet hops was the Hop Harvest?

    Glad you made it out there to visit Nino last Fall!
     
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