Fléchette
Standard Brewing

2024-03-31
500ml bottle split between a few sample glasses.

Pours clear purple-red with a small pale head, moderate visible carbonation. Smell is tart, bright, rich cherry.

Taste is quite tart, clear cherry juice character. Some fruit skin bitterness, a bit of oak.

Mouthfeel is fairly still, light. Overall, it's pretty good.

Not label marked but probably a 375ml bottle. Stamp on label for bottled on is 'NOV 05 2020'.
Reddish brown colored body. Brief lasting head but an active surface storm. No lacing.
Aroma is a mix of cherry and oak.
Taste is sour and is led by cherry but the cherry is layered and nuanced. There is also some oak and a touch of vanilla. Aftertaste has a similar vibe as to cabernet sauvignon red wine.
More than medium mouthfeel. Very tart dry finish. Quiet carbonation.
A beer that presents as one that can be aged for quite some time, but presently is mature enough to be imbibed now.

 

 

i am under the impression this is a sovereign beer, insofar as the two operations are separable, it says sovereign on the bottle, and that is where i bought it, but i hate to relist it here on BA, since it already exists here on the standard page and is the same thing. its one of the most impressive beers we had while we were at the brewery, intense cherry, straight up kriek, and the fermentation profile reminds me of the old world lambic types, this seems more traditionally conceived than some of their others, and i can almost still taste it on my palate recalling it now, just such a dynamic, intense, and well executed brew. two different kinds of cherries stain this blood red, the color leaps out of the bottle, and the tart and tannic nose makes my mouth water, rose wine, earthy minerals, woody depth, pie cherry twang, and mature brett, its all happening. the cherries are super intense in this, never sweet, not for a second, and just so concentrated, the permeate my tongue and stay there, my mouth waters even as i drink it, cool sensation. all the fruit does not diminish the impact of the fermentation profile, which is way different than in any other wild type i had here, more sour, but also more lambic-esque, and that impresses me more than the fruit, for it is harder to achieve. the bottle conditioning here makes this too, so soft, so effervescent, it really benefits the beer. it has its own thing going on, but i would put this in a lineup with any of the best regarded krieks from the traditional lamic makers, and it would assuredly hold its own. absolutely world class, how are these guys not blowing up yet?! also, this is incorrectly classified as a flanders red, wild beer or kriek lambic more appropriate...