Not So Oud Bruin
Forked River Brewing Company

Bottle from the brewery. Served in a BarVolo Zwanze 2014 glass.

A - A half-finger of white foam sizzles to nothing. Transparent chestnut-amber body; surprisingly light and clear for the style.

S - Aroma is...not what I expected. There is a good deal of the base brown ale, and it feels like the English variety; nutty, toasty, and a bit fruity and herbal. There's some wild yeast character that gives a musty and perhaps medicinal or vegetal quality; perhaps a hint of cranberry as well. Lacking the acidity or oak I expected, although I know this style has a breadth to it. Understated, even after warming up quite a bit.

T - The flavor is again pretty heavy on the English brown ale flavors, with mild cranberry tartness in the finish. Maybe a hint of balsamic, but I'm not sure I would even know this was a sour in a blind situation.

M - Toasty and dry, with pleasant medium carbonation. No alcohol, medium in body. My favorite thing about this brew.

D - A rare miss from Forked River. Not bad, just kind of dull, particularly when I was pumped to drink an Oud Bruin and got more of an English Brown Ale. Maybe this needs some more time to sour? It isn't pasteurized so the yeast should do its thing.

500 mL bottle picked up at the brewery and served slightly chilled. As someone who doesn't drink all that many sours, and has never had an oud bruin specifically (from Flanders or otherwise), this should not be considered an objective 'to-style' review, but rather a subjective record of my experience.

This sour is clear orange-amber in colour; an aggressive pour produced almost no head at all - only a thin, soapy froth of off white-coloured bubbles, which proceeds to vanish nearly as quickly as it was created. I am not getting much off the nose either, even as the glass warms. It's mildly grassy, with faint suggestions of cranberry skin and red apple underneath a woody, herbal note and some clean, grainy barley malt. It's not setting my world on fire just yet.

One of the least-sour sours I've had to date, which helps its approachability, but will probably irk the purists. Grainy, toasty malts and a very subtle brown sugar sweetness are quickly joined by the tart cranberry. Suggestions of red grapes and apples mid-sip; finishes with cranberry skin astringency and mild balsamic vinegar sourness that hangs on briefly into the aftertaste, which includes a woody, vaguely nutty note. Leaning toward light-bodied, with soft carbonation levels that result in a smooth, pleasing mouthfeel. Goes down the hatch nicely, thanks to its mild flavour profile.

Final Grade: 3.5, a B. Not So Oud Bruin isn't impressing me as much as some of the other Forked River soured beers I've had in recent weeks, but it's still a decently enjoyable quaff. It strikes me as a very mellow interpretation of (what I assume, based on limited research) the style is supposed to be like. It's a good attempt, particularly when you take into account that it's basically a scaled-up homebrew recipe. I forget what I paid for this, but as long as the price is reasonable I'd consider revisiting it in the future.