Ouden Vat
Brasserie de la Senne

Picked this beer up at the Craft Beer Cellar in Dallas.

Poured from a bottle into a tulip glass. Reddish mahogany color with a nice initial beige head and excellent curtain lacing. Sour apple smell and taste. Tart cherries with some sweet strawberries. Pleasant woodsy background. Decent feel and overall a nice Flanders Red. Love them when I find them.

 

Poured from 330mL bottle into my BeerAdvocate teku. Hmm, it appears the "best before date" is 10/8/21. But it's a barrel-aged Flanders red, so I'm willing to give it a chance.

Appearance: rich, dark amber hue, with a clear body, an evident effervescence, and a thick finger of pillowy dark-ivory foam. I think it's beautiful.

Smell: woody, sweet, and with a fair tartness to the aroma. It has a candylike character in the sweet/tart combo that really works for me, although it's not super complex.

Taste: interesting; it's woody, for sure, with an oaky vanillin character. Sourness is moderate; perhaps a bit lower than some of the bigger brands, but still quite nice. There's a little bit of astringency to the oak here. Overall it's quite good, although I think a bit less oak might be nice.

Mouthfeel: medium-light body but with a good carbonation and a nice, mouth-filling creaminess.

Overall: a very nice Flanders red; a bit less tart than some examples of the style, but still tart by any other standard. The oak is perhaps a bit heavy, but overall the flavor is good. That's the thing about a "best by" date for a barrel-aged sour ale: I think you're good for quite some time after.

 

 

 

Bottle from Etre
Lightly hazy dark brown with faint ruby at the edges and a huge tightly bubbled tan head that persists. Lemon and sour cherry with hints of balsamic and light sweet bready caramel maltiness. Moderate earthy funky flavor.

 

heck yeah! a new one from de la senne, one of my favorites and an all around unsung amazing brewery. this is a flanders red type, quite a bit more sour than i am used to from these guys, but not at the expense of the funkiness i have come to associate with their beers. deep mahogany color with a khaki lace head that settles slowly, high shine, a richness about it. a very complex nose to this, still bretty, but now with notes of port wine, raspberry vinegar, lactic sourness, and a ton of musty wet oak. some malty sweetness like toffee and brown sugar, raisin and cherry fruitiness, obvious tang, mouthwatering but super earthy and mature too, wet animal, burlap, and light citrus. the flavor is very balanced between the complex, fruity, cooked and stewed tasting malts and the fermentation profile, which is bretty and wild but also relatively acidic, some sweetness does keep it from being too sour to drink at the end, and i love the funk that runs through it. a huge amount of wood mellowing it too, highlighting the brett, and making this seem ancient and timeless. less vinegar sharpness than is commonly found in the style, yet still a faithful interpretation of it, just with a very distinctive de la senne vibe to the whole thing. exceptional beer again from these guys, who never seem to get the credit they deserve, this is gorgeous.