Rodenbach Grand Cru
Brouwerij Rodenbach N.V.

 

330ml bottle into a goblet. My best guess at age is bottled September 2020.

Head vanishes quickly, lightly sour aroma, but the taste is solidly sour with a sweetness in the background. Light body and a drying finish

 

 

Appearance: Poured with a sliver of head that simply couldn't stick around and produced no lace. The body is a opaque cloudy brown, which barely reveals a hint of red when put up to the light, which I suppose is appropriate to style, but doesn't seem very appetizing to me for some reason.

Smell: Oh dear...it's like some kind on unholy mix of wine, apple cider and malt vinegar. I think I am also catching a bit of caramel malt in the background. I will given points certainly of potency, as zero warmup needed for that to be produced. I'll also give it points for complexity, but this is an assault on my olfactory senses. This is a sour at a level that I just can't see liking.

Taste: Where this beer starts, is where I'd have liked it to end. There is a potent lemon note seemingly barely curbed by some nice notes of cherry and apple, but then the beast is let loose as it passed outright into drinking vinegar with some brown sugar thrown into it, before this odd dry sand skunkness kind of creeps in over the ruins of that experience. There is identifiable complexity here, but the core sour component overshadows it. It's like an Indy band you like, touring with a band that plays with metal nails and a chalkboard.

Mouthfeel: The transitioning here starts high and jumps into orbit, and is then lost to the solar winds, leaving behind acid and sand for us to contemplate. That passes to go back to just a sour lemon note in the aftertaste, which would could be present, if you didn't experience what caused it. Carbonation is also pretty much absent here. There's very little here I enjoy.

Drinkability: Drinkable like a fancy lemonade, made with every bell and whistle, except you used half the water, and no sugar. Way too potent for my liking, and the acidic note I mentioned earlier seems to linger at the top of my stomach after it has gone down. At least the low carbonation doesn't further agitate things down there.

Final Thoughts: I don't think I've ever had a Flanders Red Ale I truly liked, but I also don't recall one ever being this potent. I know there are people who enjoy this, and that this is their jam. There are notes there that tell me, yes this beer is a remarkably complex offering. However for me, they are buried under the sour note of this offering. This is very much not for me, and didn't even make it pass the half way mark. If you relish in sours, this might be for you but this is a hard pass for me.

I do not like sours but this is one that got it right. Would not consider it sour but “tangy” in a way. Initially I felt the smell was of a “nail polish” fragrance but learning that it’s made with “Red Wine Vineger” Explains that. Definitely would order another if I’m in the mood for a tangy beer.

When it hit my lips my first words were "Oh Wow" ..... Appearances can be deceiving because it's not much to look at.... But a fragrant nose and a great feel along with terrific smooth taste and flavor gives us a big time thumbs up for me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.2oz bottle production date 2.026 poured into a tulip glass at fridge temp 6% ABV. The beer pours medium brown in color with chestnut highlights and light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and a few scattered bubbles. A few tiny spots of lacing. The aroma is red wine vinegar, subtle sweetness and a hint of malt. The taste is sour red wine blending into a little brown sugar and malt with a notable red berry finish. Negligible bitterness. The mouthfeel is thin to medium bodied with average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, good, I guess. This is the outer limit of how much sour I can handle before I drain pour...

Red wine vinegar - not very sour.

 

Really good sour beer that I finally got to try. The appearance isn’t so pretty, just a murky hazelnut brown color with no head. But tastes great, like sour cherries and yeasty funk, grape, a hint of oak barrel. Enjoyably sour but not overly so. Overall pretty good.

Dark brown and murky in complexion. No discernable head. The aroma is of horse blanket, barnyard funk, and tart cherries. I'm tasting tart cherries and the mouthfeel is very smooth from the oak. The mouth is also dry and crisp.

 

 

 

Translucent deep brownish-red, with light, quickly-dissipating tan head.

Smell? Think red wine vinegar, softened by (dried, then moistened) cherry, oak and a touch of vanilla. I say "vinegar", but it's softer, more rounded than that, and not as strong. A partner of the other elements, not dominating them.

Taste is is dried cherry, a touch of raisin, the aforementioned red wine vinegar, some oak tannin, and a hint of booze-soaked vanilla.

Feel is smooth/slick - it looks at "lightly syrupy", but doesn't actually go there - , light-medium, with light, very,very,very fine carbonation tingle. Some acetic mucilaginous feel at the back of the palate, eventually with a slight drying effect in the front.

Overall, just wonderful. I've had this before, but not in a long, long time. I need to not wait so long for the next time. It lives up to billing, and deserves its high ranking. :)

 

 

Poured from the 11.2 oz bottle into the test glass.
A - A ruddy, brown color, very little cap, very fine carbonation accumulates as a ring along the glass walls
S - Dark cherries, vanilla tannin, oak, some sweet malts, aged balsamic, and green apple skins.
T - Dark stone fruit, some ever so slight vanilla, a bit of late harvest grape, as the offering warms, the earthy elements pop. Grainy malts, with earthy musty threads. This is very complex
M - Medium body, semi sweet, then a shift towars slightly sour. Texture is luxurious, slick with a slightly tart linger.
Very cordial like with the gentle carbonation.
O - A bit of a revelation in 11.2 oz's. Outstanding texture, Softened by oak, the acididty doesn't run wild. The tannin touch is deft. Overall exceptional

 

 

More brown than red, slightly hazy, one finger of khaki head. The smell and taste are extremely complex, dominated by fruit, red wine tannins, and vinegar, but in a good way. The flavour of this stuff sure packs a wallop. It finishes with the dominant sourness only slightly mellowed out by sweetness. Overall, a wonderfully complex and refreshing beer.

 

 

Excellent brownish-red body with lots of lively carbonation; thick, spongy head. A beautiful aroma of cherry and raspberry; earthy mustiness. The taste flows along with the smell; rich, fruity tartness; raw oak; moderate sourness. Heavy body; velvety residual sugar note; moderate tartness; fairly sweet overall.

This is a fantastically rich and inviting Flanders red ale. It brings all the hallmarks of the beer style to the front. I don't find it overly sour nor over-carbonated and fizzy like some I've experienced. This one is heavy with complexity and nuance.

Poured at 45 F; bottling date (I guessing): September 08th, 2020 (label had JD 0.252 13 17:47)

Visual: scarce coarse ocher colored foam, dark brown beer with amber reflections, veiled.
Nose: high intensity with fruity, acidulous, grape, light caramel and malt descriptors.
Taste: very intense with acidic, sour descriptors and sweet finish. Ripe grapes and ripe cherries, caramel. Acidic aftertaste of grapes always fighting with a very elegant fined sweetness. Mouth sensation of astringency and pungent carbonation with medium and soft.

330 ml bottle poured into a tulip glass. There is clear bottling information, but I'm nowhere near smart enough to decipher the code.

L---Opaque brown in my glass, but it was clear with a strong reddish tint while pouring it through light. Fluffy khaki head faded quickly and left ok lacing.

S---You can smell the sourness. Strong fruitiness. Tart cherries.

T---Wow, this is really good. Sour cherries, light red wine vinegar.

F---Much fuller bodied than expected from a relatively light 6.0% ABV.

O---This earns its world class status. So glad I bought two.

 

91