Lief & Leed
Brouwerij De Molen

 

Pinkish red with a hint of brown. Sort of Water colour, without any carbonation. A thin pink foam on top.

Sour, balsamic, wine vinegar. Cherries, funk, musky dank cellar and macaroni.

Sour, funk, vinegar, oaky wood notes, tar like bitterness on the finish. Really no sweetness, but not as acidic as some lambics.

Medium acidic body, little carbonation. Very dry.

Strange colour for the style, but really well done, funky, and awesome nice brew. Got on wishbeer, drank in Chiang Mai June 4th, 2016.

 

750ml caged and corked bottle - "Ups and Downs" - wow, I don't think a beer's name could encapsulate my life of late as accurately as this one does.

This beer pours a clear, medium red brick amber colour, with one skinny finger of wanly foamy, and mostly just fizzy dirty white head, which leaves pretty much nil in terms of lace anywhere near the glass as things quickly dissolve.

It smells of somewhat tart dark orchard fruit - cherries, plums, and underripe red grapes - tanned leather, cheesy yeast, an earthy funkiness, a further lemon juice acridity, grainy caramel malt, and a touch of boozy vanilla-tinted woodiness. The taste is more sour and edgy varied fruitiness - lemon, cherry, prune, and raisin - yeasty rising bread, a lessened caramel sweetness, softly funky white cheese, red wine lees, ethereal black pepper, and tame woody, leafy, and earthy hops.

The bubbles are fairy active and engaging in their alternating fizzy and frothy guises, the body just on the lee side of medium weight, and not particularly smooth, what with those grad-school funky and yeasty bros kicking about. It finishes on the dry side, that unfinished red wine character growing with every sip.

While I may be mired in a certain string of the 'downs', brews like this at least help in pointing me in the right direction, towards the so-called 'ups'. Maybe not as refined as yer Duchesses and Rodenbachs from down the road and across the border (it's the EU, so do such things really exist anymore?), but agreeable enough in its own right, i.e. lots going on here, and almost worthy of the large format and commensurate shelf tag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

750ml corked and caged. Bottled on 29 June 2012 and poured into my La Chouffe tulip glass.

On the label it is called a Sour Ale and says that it can be aged up to 10 years.

The 1st time I tasted this beer was on tap during our tour at Brouwerij De Molen in October 2012. My initial impression was that of a souped-up Rodenbach Grand Cru (Flemish Red Ale). I liked the beer so much at that time that I purchased a few bottles to bring home, including to one I’m having now.

A: This beer poured a hazy brownish-orange with a 1 finger off white head which left a thin lacing on my glass.

S: The nose included berries/cherries, leather, wood, funk and barnyard aromas with a hint of sweet and sour.

T: The taste of this brew starts off tart with some sweetness to balance it out. Like with the nose, I picked up some berries/cherries as well as some woody notes. The tartness and funkiness of this beer made you feel very refreshed and wanting more. It finished on the dry side.

M: The body was light to medium light and had a low level of carbonation level.

It will be interesting to see what a few years of aging of my other bottle will add to this beer.