Ichtegems Ale (Oud Bruin)
Brouwerij Strubbe

 

Appearance is a lovely dark but clear body as expected from an old bruin, head nothing to write home about.

Aroma is sour mash, which is expected and really quite appealing if this is your style of beer. Not too vinegary, a light sweetness in the nose.

Taste is superb, but I do like this style. Sweet on the palette, and similarly on the aftertaste. Malty but not overbearingly so, a winner for me.

Feel is very good also, a nice touch of effervescence really kicks that sweetness around your mouth.

Overall, very good and a very sensible brew. One for the connoisseur.

Amber copper color with a thin head.
Vinegary aroma with predominant notes of red wine, acetic acid, grapes, oak and husk.
Flavor with notes of red wine, green apples, mild vinegar, oak, lemon, cranberry, slightly toast, lactic acid and Brett. Dry aftertaste with an elegant acetic note.
Light towards medium body with natural carbonation of tiny bubbles.
This felt like a true old recipe of a Flanders Oud Bruin with a husky and vinegary aroma mixing acetic wine, red fruits, husk and wood notes. Women translated. This is well underrated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

33cl bottle into a Duvel tulip. Thanks, Dan, for tossing this one my way.

A: Opaque dark brown body glows reddish-amber around the edges; 1-finger head of creamy ecru foam. Decent retention, nice lace. Attractive brew.

S: Primarily malty, with toffee, molasses, and dark fruit. Some acetic tartness is present, but sadly understated. A bit underpowered and uninspired.

T: A bit more vinegar-laden than the aroma, with cranberry-tinged bitterness following the sweet malt. Decent sweet/sour balance, but not terribly tasty. It does get significantly better as it warms, though, and in the end is rather pleasant. Still not great, but ok.

M: Medium body, moderate carbonation. Delicate, bordering on watery.

O: This one had some character, but didn't quite come together. I'd take it over Duchesse any day, but there are far better options in the style.

Cheers!

 

 

This was a strange one to rate. Started off awesome, big deep dark pour, chunky meaty head, smell was that nice vinegery (sp?) bitter nose, kinda getting pumped because it's smelling great....than the taste, light vinegar, big dry bitterness, very dry. But to be honest, it has that RR Supplication dryness, so if you like that, mixed with a Duchesse, your pumped, but for me, mouthfeel lost me, sorry.

A little gift I brought home for myself from Belgium...

A- Poured from the bottle with a thin, tan, diffuse head, over a semi-opaque dark brown body. No visible carbonation.

S- Smells of mild to moderate stewed malts with a husky overtone, with some lesser acetic and metallic nuances.

T- Malt character is strong and somewhat sweet up front... a touch of melanoidin is met with some mild acetic notes midway, which turn to a dryer echo of melanoidin, sherry, and mild huskiness in the finish. Quite tasty, and I suspect that the 1+ year of age on this bottle is helping it.

M- Thin body with a pervasive, moderately soft carbonation... has a light syrupy texture and a mild anstringency.

D- I can drink this stuff all night long- I guess another trip to Belgium is in order!

Picked up a 25cl bottle at Cambrinus in Brugge and poured it into a tulip glass.

A: Pours a deep cabernet red with a slight brown tint when held up to the light, has a thin head with big bubbles that dissipate quickly leaving just a minor amount of lace.

S: Strong vinegar upfront, burnt raisins, sweet finish.

T: Very sweet, a bit of funky wood, raisins, red wine with just a slightly sour finish - nothing spectacular though.

M: Light bodied, thin and watery.

D: I didn't finish it.

The appearance isn't bad with a fairly clear red-brown coloured body topped by a small tan head.

Very light "chinese" sweet and sour aroma. Dull and unimpressive.

Sweet, slightly vinous, only a little tart (but not really) and a bit fruity. WTF? This just isn't good.

Medium-light body with moderate carbonation.

This is not a good Oud Bruin. There is far too much sweetness and is almost cloying rather than crisp, flavourful and tart.

Bottle. $4.99 for a 11.2oz bottle. No date I could find on the bottle but the cap says 29-09-2014 which I am guessing is the best by date. Poured a fairly dark reddish brown with an offwhite 2 finger head that quickly dissipates down to about a 1/4 of an inch and then just flat out disappears. The aroma is not sour at all. The nose is actually pretty bad, not bad smelling, but there really isn't a whole lot there. Oh dear god, this is not very good. It has a subtle bitter taste that is off putting. Subtle fruit taste. Not sour really at all (did I say that already?) Can't imagine really finishing this one. Slight alcohol flavor at the end. Light/medium mouthfeel. I would avoid this one, especially at the price. Tried again and same results as above.

A: Redbrown colour, big but thin head that dissapears rapidly but leaves enough lacing.

S: cherries, some citrus. But not a lot of aroma's are rising up.

T: Funky sourness at first, aftertaste is a weet bitterness that dissapears fast.

M/D: Very drinkable but a bit thin too my taste.

Overall not bad, but certainly not the best in the style.

Bottle at Strijdershuis in Bruges, as we drank our way through the Strubbe range.
A: Dark maroon and brown with a big fluffy white head that settles slowly to leave a delicate lacing.
S: Aroma of dark fruit and roasted malts.
T: Flavors of light smoke and toffee with sourness from the middle to the finish.
M: Decent enough body.
D: Good example of the style, pleasant and drinkable.

Best by 09-2012

Poured into snifter.

Pours 1/2 finger of off white head. Fades to a ring. Leaves splattered lace. Color is a dark chocolate brown.

Aroma: Lots of dry cherries. Slight oak. A very malty beer. Not to much going on here. It is a little tart.

Taste: Reminds me sort of like a brown ale with some oak and cherry flavors. Malt based with some dry spice notes. Again, not much going on here, but I dig it.

Mouthfeel: A little tart, but overall just smooth. Medium bodied with a medium amount of carbonation. Ends slight dry, but pretty clean.

Overall, I don't mind this, but I wish this was more sour and more oak was present. It started out drinking slow, but as I worked my way through the bottle, it got a little better.

At 5.5%abv., BB 03/2009, tasted just cool in a slim goblet.

A: dark chestnut brown in colour with very strong red glows when seen against light, coming with some, not much, yeast sediments; the carbonation is mild and moderate, while the beige beer head breaks down fast to a rim.
S: there's more aroma than my last bottle of Oud Bruin "Bockor Bellegems Bruin", featuring grassy hops, sour plum jam, raisins, metallic sour prunes and semi-sweet red grape skins... but overall the typical pungent lactic sourness of a barrel-aged ale is slightly in the lacking, or, very delicate. Given a swirl, a familiar aroma of very dark malts with an edge of melted black-sugar emerges and mixes with the fruity theme in a harmony. Overall, very pleasant, richly fruity with a whiff of good maltiness, but way less lactic-sour than one'd normally expect from this style.
T: the softly effervescent foretaste is just mildly sour-sweet, showing a decent composition of smashed dark fruits (longan-fruits and sweetened dried plum-flesh) and fast developing herbally-malty taste with a "settled" edge of light-bodied dark malts (like what's used in a Dark Mild), licorice candy, and lightly grassy hops. The finish is semi-chewy, concluding the overall fruity and lightly malty theme in an interestingly contrasting manner.
M&D: very smooth, the soft carbonation lasts throughout the drink against a medium-plus body. This Oud Bruin is not quite stale like any well-aged ale or lactic/sour-fruity as my last bottle, "Bockor Bellegems Bruin", but is deliciously fruity and still balanced with a pretty good dose of malts - overall, simply easy-drinking~~

this ale poured like a red ale dark copper and had the same appearance as one..the smell was of earth, oak , and peat and fruits.. hard to describe the style.. the taste was very good it was earthy followed by an oak and yeast hit with some fruit and some clove tastes..this was not an overpowering ale but a nice easy drinking ale at a low abv..will buy again only comes in the 750ml bottle where i live. a great style to try buy it if you can find it

This is only my second sour Oud Bruin, so I am fairly new to the style. The smell was a little "off putting" in the beginning, but as the beer warmed, it started to smell like sour candy and ripe citrus fruits. The taste was a bit similar, but more on the sour candy. It also had a nice warming feel as it went down the throat. This is one of those beers that the alcohol isn't very strong in it, but you would guess it's much higher than it is. I hope I can find more of these styles of beers around Charleston. I really want to start trying more of these.

First of this style and must say was pleasantly surprised.

Very dark reddish coloring with tan head. Hard to describe since it was unexpected not knowing much about this beer style. Fruity undertones, is it wine no, but fruity like some wines and carbonation just right for a beer. would love to know more about this style so I describe better.

Mouth feel was very warm and inviting not light or heavy.

I am not sure how many of these I could drink but one or two would do the trick...