Rosse Melchior
Brouwerij De Drie Koningen

After visiting the Cantillion brewery in Brussels last week with my father, it will be hard to ever taste a comparable lambic again, but lets give it a try....

The "three kings" beer. Labeled as a Kriek. Opening the bottle begins to build active carbonation in the bottle.
Poured into my Pommerings Hommelbier goblet, a browninsh cherry-red purplish toned beer emerges. Head is quite full, three fingers, the color of pink cotton candy. Active and fizzing, settles after around a minute.
In comparison to the "authentic" lambics, this one is very restrained, in fact in struggling to pick out discernable notes. After several minutes, i begin to detect cherry, red apples, grapes, touch of woodiness in the background. Light citrusy notes keep the beer from smelling too sweet.But really lacks that "musty" old lambic smell in the best.
FLavor is on par with the aromatics. Much more balanced than expected.Cherry,wood, apple,red berries, currants, grape, raspberries, cherry is forefront.LAcks the mouth-puckering pop in the finish I crave in Lambic.
The sweeter character is ok, but lacks drinkability, wheras the sour version dissapear quite quickly.
Good, but will not buy again.

A clear, brown, red beer with a thin head that almost disappears after a couple of seconds. Carbonation is low, but lasts till the last sip.

Smell of cherries and lots of other red fruit. A woody smell that goes well with the cherries.

Taste is fruity with the obvious cherry taste. It leans towards marmelade, it is sweet and sticky. The wood in the smell is also present in the taste. It adds an etra depth to the otherwise too sweet and almost artificial tasting beer.