Madame Rose
Goose Island Beer Co.

Bottled in May of 2016.

Appearance is a reddish brown with a small amount of head that's unremarkable overall. Aroma is strongly acidic with clear wine barrels and cherries. I'm somewhat surprised that the aroma hasn't faded over the last seven years. Taste is heavily acidic. The cherry is less pronounced than on the nose, but still present, as is the wine barrel.

Overall, this beer is good, but not great. It's level of acidity reminds me of many Cascade beers I've had over the years, where it could use just a little more balance.

 

A 2015 bottle poured in a Goose Island snifter. No history on the bottle storage as it was given to me by a neighbor who received it via a Drizly delivery from a local Colorado store.

A healthy gasp of carbonation upon opening. It pours a cloudy reddish brown leaving a off white ring of foam behind. Smells of mild band aid, vinegar and tart cherries. The taste is vinegar, sour cherry/crabapple with heavy wood tannins in the finish. The feel is tart and dry.

Overall? It's good, light and quite refreshing. I vaguely remember drinking this fresh and enjoying it. The cherries are there but have really faded and are overtaken by the vinegar and wood tannins. My advice would be to drink 'em if you got 'em!

 

Tart sour cherry. More like a rose Bach than a cherry lambic. May 2016 bottle opened July 2021 and still very good beer. Can taste the wine barrel on swallowing.

4 year old bottle, date stamped April, 5th, 2017.
Super yummy!

Goose Island Beer Co. "2017 Madame Rose"
$6 / 5 oz. @ Goose Island Brewhouse Philadelphia on 06/02/18

Notes via stream of consciousness: I have no idea if this is draft or from a bottle, but I'll assume it's a bottle. It's not a very big pour for $6 but what can you do. I've had this before, I think it was like $28 for a 750 ml bottle, but I'm kind of stuck here so I might as well review it while I'm waiting. Slightly hazy deep reddish brown color beneath a finger's width of off-white foam. Surprisingly good head retention for a sour beer, although it has now dropped to just a thin cap. The nose is funky (wet straw, mud, dried wood, grass, leather, musty basement), oaky, vinous, acidic, fruity, and malty. On to the taste... well it's what you'd expect given the aroma. It's sour. There's some caramel and a hint of chocolate to the malt. It's fruitier (suggestions of cherry, pear, apple) than you might think but the Brettanomyces character is still there. Restrained bitterness, but acidic ~ dry, acidic and fruity finish with some dry oak lingering. Medium-light in body with a soft and smooth carbonation that gains some zest from the acidity. It's complex without being overly so, well rounded in its character notes, and nicely balanced. Well worth trying.

Plenty of carbonation. Red orange color. Tart upfront and changes in to the funky brett flavors. 2016 aged.

In review is a 2012 vintage.

A - Pours a hazy cherry color with thin pink lacing, carbonation is very low to none.

S - Tart cherry aroma with light Belgian yeast and a little bit of tart grape.

T - Tart cherry from start to finish, delicate oak, and alot of puckering cherry funk. Slight cherry acidity but never detracts from the flavor.

M - Big medium body with a wet finish.

O - This beer held up extremely well for being (8) years old.

 

 

 

 

A-Pours a hazy brownish color with a slight head and lacing
A-Aroma has a generous cherries and Brett hints
T-The taste follows the nose with a well balanced Cabernet oak cherries and Brett flavor
M-A light bodied decently carbonated beer
O-A good Flanders Oud Bruin

Bottle from 2015

A: Poured into a Duvel tulip to a deep reddish brown beer topped by a dense and slightly rocky finger of light tan head which fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of lots of funky barnyardy brett with some horseblanket and a touch of cherries.
T: Taste is slight tart cherries up front before the bretty barnyard and horseblanket comes in with some band aids and furniture polish along with some more cherry. On the swallow it's more cherries and wine barrels with some more funky brett notes and furniture polish with a slight roasted malt note on the very back end.
M: The beer has a body which is slightly syrupy and on the lighter side of medium. Carbonation is effervescent and slightly prickly while the beer has a drying finish due to the acidity and long time to condition in the bottle.
O: Overall this one is very well executed. The flavors are nice and there's some nice complexity. This one may be a little over driven by the brett due to the time in the bottle but it still drinks very well. Worth a try.

 

I had the 2015, bottled in September so this is pushing 4 years. When we first poured it, I was skeptical of the colour as I thought it's time might be passed. However, once I smelled it, I knew that was not the case. The whiskey aroma with no off notes stuck out that this would be one to remember. Once I tasted, it verified my olfaction: this beer is one of the best beers I've ever expereienced. I immediately decided that I would light some pipe tobacco as I knew the cherry and wood profile would compliment the tobacco. That was dedinitely the case. This beer has inspired me to cellar beers (and that sours can cellar for 4 years at that)!

12oz bottle. Label is stamped with bottling date of '05APR17'. 2017 Release.
Color is muddy brown mixed with cherry red. Red really comes out when glass is back lit. The pour brings forth a bubbly cap, but this disappears almost immediately. No lacing.
Aroma of red wine vinegar, cherry, and oak. Vinous and tart.
Taste is tart, with vinegar influences. There is a bunch of fruity cherry in the mix. The back is held up by the red wine oak barrel, with the emphasis on the tannin.
Medium mouth feel, with the oak and vinegar hitting the nasal cavities. Good carbonation.
Very much like a red wine, but with the slightly sweet cherry broadening the experience. Vinous and tart in the end, with particular dryness.