Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale
De Proefbrouwerij (bvba Andelot)

4.52/5  rDev +14.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Hugely underrated; one of those beers that supports the notion of genius in Belgian beer making. Excellent, unique beer.

I had it from a bottle into a small snifter. Cloudy brown color with excellent head and beautiful curtain lacing. Very fragrant tart smell. A symphony of flavors: nutmeg, cinnamon, hazelnut, oak and maple, pumpkin. It gets better as it warms.

I must have had one that was aged just right - very memorable beer!

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4/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Opening the bottle I had a little bit of a blowover. So lots of head and pretty long head retention. The beer was cloudy in color but this could have been due to the fact that the bottle might have over conditioned. Still a lot of carbonation in the beer. Night and dry for a 9% beer. Tons of flavor, just the slightest undertone of the barnyard Brett funk

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4.08/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

hazy orange with a foamy off-white head
estery, earthy, ethanol funk
tart, lemon, some banana
acidic, some balsamic.
not diacetyl, but could be close.
a bit alcoholic.

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2.56/5  rDev -35.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

330 mL bottle. Pale yellow. Huge white head. Smells medicinal, fruity, and yeasty. Tastes medicinal, too. Brett and a little bit of sweetness that turns medicinal. Super high carbonation. Takes a while to swirl out the carbonation. Medium body. The medicinal sourness is unpleasant.

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4.3/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Deep semi-cloudy creamy yellow, this is similar to a wheat beer or tripel. And yet it was not disastrously sour or funky; the triple-processing mellowed the ale leaving it with a drier, flowery, perhaps apricot-like flavor standing on its own and not marred by excessive peppering.

Falling between a wheat beer, sake, and mead, it was perhaps similar to a barrel aged white wine. Would be great paired with flavored cheeses, breads and pastries.... probably not with pizza, doritos and chips!

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4.06/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

My mistake... but a good mistake.
In my imperfect categorization, I put this bottle in with the Belgian sours... which I drink on rare occasions voluntarily, which is to say that the sours I buy are only on a list I am checking off.
So, I stored this for at least a year and, as the dread receded, so did the "sour."
The mistake also is a confluence of events: it was last March day of a Florida spring here in Chicago before a climate change cold front dumped an inch of rain and the temperature dropped 15 degrees during dinner. So, the wild weather matched the beer... which was refreshing and, frankly, more thought-inducing than daily life usually is.

Having said all that, you get a short review: Reinaert Wild does not make me pucker like a sour.
And a quick warning: the head was voluminous. So be careful before and when you pour.

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4.09/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4

Yellow, white 1/2" head. Aroma was sour, citrus, mild grain.

This one nicely wasn't big on spice rack, lemon, pale malts. Mild sweetness to countereffect the sourness and maybe brett? Hides alcohol quite well.

This is such a conflux of styles. Pale ale, wild ale, berliner, whatever, its good and affordable. Just don't come across it as much as I'd like anymore.

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4/5  rDev +1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a cloudy golden orange color with a huge four finger white foamy head. There is quite a bit of a soapy lacing. The odor for me is fruity, pear, apple, spices, pineapple, herbal, cooked fruits, wine like, peach, apricot, slightly floral. The taste for me is fruity, apple, pear, banana, spices, clove, coriander, bitter dry finish.

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3.75/5  rDev -5.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Orange, hazy, lively beer; translucent. Pours with a modest foamy white head with excellent retention.

Brew is tart and musty, as expected, but there's a touch of bubblegum I wasn't expecting. Think: Tripel yeast, alongside rustic Brett. Overall aroma is fairly subdued.

Brew is sweet up front, primarily from pale malt and yeast, but a very rustic, dry Brett presence soon hits. Around mid-palate, the Brett and Belgian yeasts dance around each other, trading sweet fruity notes (banana, clove, and bubblegum) with musty dull edges.

Lively but smooth; medium bodied, and drinks both like a big beer and somehow easy for 9%.

The descriptor is spot-on: this is a BSPA all the way, at times reminiscent of a Tripel. Yet, the Brett adds a very distinct facet to this brew.

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2.6/5  rDev -34.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

This beer is seriously bad. Really? It calls itself a flemish wild ale but is listed as a Belgian strong pale, and it tastes like the good parts of neither.

I've had a few good beers tonight already and I'm ready to drain pour all $9 of this mistake.

Bitter in a bad way, not sour, bad Belgian funk without the good, and it's ugly. Only thing going well is that it is pretty well carbonated. Pass

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4.1/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This is quite nice. Compared to some other "wild ales" or sours, this is quite subdued. The aroma primed me for something more sour and tart, but you won't experience anything cringe-worthy here. Its funky and sour characteristics predominate in the flavor but are not overpowering in the least. It's rather light but has an added level of complexity that will slow your sipping rate, which is good considering the abv, which itself is not at all detectable. I'm not sure I'll come back to it, but it's worth trying to see if it suits your tastes.

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4.19/5  rDev +6.1%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Pours a deep gold color with moderate haze. Orange highlights when held to the light. Huge off-white head. Fluffy rather than dense. Dissipates slowly. Tons of sticky lacing left behind.

Funky barnyard aroma. Earthy and malty. Clove, straw, honey, and lemon rind.

More barnyard funk. A bit medicinal. Slightly boozy. Biscuity malt. Caramel. Sweet honey.

Medium body with medium+ carbonation. Dry mouth feel. Some lingering astringency.

Nice funky beer.

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4.52/5  rDev +14.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Tasted from a 750 ml bottle in a Duvel tulip glass.

L - Dark golden color with some orange; hazy. Fluffy, dense off-white head with tons of lacing persists throughout.

S - Yeast/bacteria notes dominate. Cherries, green apples, faint mustiness, oak. Low bready malt in background. Does not smell tart or sour, but is very interesting and complex.

T - Light lemony tartness is the first flavor, followed by cherries, low oak, grainy malt and sweetness in the mid-palate. Dry, slightly acidic finish. Very complex but clean.

F - Medium body. Carbonation is mouth-fillingly high but smooth. Low to medium hops bitterness provides backbone without being assertive. Alcohol is present, but surprisingly low for the ABV.

O - Lots going on. This is a delicious, beer with intricate flavors and aromas.

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4.67/5  rDev +18.2%
look: 5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Sour cherry and banana nose, cloudy pretty peach color with thick loose head, dry sour flavor, very little sweetness, lingering hint of tomato, pleasing bite left on the tongue

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4.5/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

From a 2-year old 750 ml bottle served in a tulip.
A: Hazy amber to light tea under a lacy, 2” off white foam cap that slowly reduces to a thick film.
S: Wild barnyard nose, fermenting wet straw, over-ripe fruit, lemon.
T: Barnyard infused over ripe fruit is mellowed by tart lemon with wood and leather. M: Light bodied with a very fine soft moussey texture.
O: Age knocks off some of the rough edges producing a tart, refreshing yet mellower beer than when fresh.

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4.39/5  rDev +11.1%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5

Pours a murky golden with a tint of orange. Massive foamy head lingers for a long time. Sticky, thick and foamy lacing retains excellently, up to the top of the glass. The aroma is of sugars and fruity esters; there is an intense blend of tropical fruit. The taste starts out as predominantly fruity; the finish has tones of orange and sugar (like orange soda). Later, this finish becomes more dry and bitter with a hint of grapefruit and hops. The taste also becomes more complex; a yeasty flavor takes over as well as hops that balance the sweet tone. As for feel, this is a sipper. I consider it a medium to slightly full bodied beer, a modest carbonation but just right for a brew of this complexity. I enjoyed.

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4.1/5  rDev +3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Poured into a Duvel tulip. No freshness date.

A- Pours a hazy orangeish medium amber color with a 1/4 inch off-white head that retains a bit before soon becoming a thick ring around the edge of the glass and a mostly full sheet of surface foam. Semi-resilient lacing leaves a jagged ring behind and there are chunks of sediment floating in the body.

S- Somewhat mild lactic acid aroma plus some musty funk brings to mind vinegar, white grape juice and lemon.

T- More white grape juice and lots of it. Also some honey and flowery notes. Slightly tart, less so than the aroma would lead you to think. Moderate malt presence while the alcohol is very well hidden.

M- Has some light tang to it with medium carbonation and a lightish body.

O- Pretty good but I feel like it wasn't quite worth the money I spent on it.

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2.75/5  rDev -30.4%

Good color, head and lacing. Only slightly sour. Tropical fruit flavor and ginger, medicinal spice. Odd funk. Unbalanced. Leaves a rough aftertaste in its wake. Tastes almost as if it's been infected. I would suggest looking elsewhere for a good sour.

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3.5/5  rDev -11.4%

Appearance: Pours a dark golden color with a slight haze. The huge, rocky, white head forced
me to take several attempts to finish pouring the beer in my glass. A decent amount of lacing
was left behind on the glass.

Aroma: Loads of berries! Blueberries, raspberries, grapes, cherries, and strawberries all make
an appearance. A touch of breadiness is also in the background.

Taste: Big fruity sweetness all the way down. As you continue to drink it, a bit of tartness
slowly grows on the tongue.

Palate: Body is leaning towards the heavier side of medium, and the carbonation level was low.
Aftertaste reminded me of Welch's grape juice.

Overall: A bit unexpected, but it was a good beer. I'd be interested in what would come from
letting this beer sit for some time behind the bar in my basement.

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3.78/5  rDev -4.3%

Very vinegar, acetic aroma. Touch of musty horse blanket, with a floral note. Flavor reveals a sweet, slightly toffee backbone, which is surprising, and a lightly lactic sourness. That sweet character is really unexpected. The finish is fairly bitter and dry.

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4/5  rDev +1.3%

When I saw that this was a Flemish wild ale, I expected some sour. However, the fact that there wasn't much was well offset by the other very strong characters present. On my own, I don't identify profiles like "barnyard" or "straw," but those are admittedly exactly how this beer starts. The yeast combo gives both the banana and stone fruit. There is a touch of hop in the finish. Overall a solid brew, with the emphasis on the wild, not the "flemish."

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3.89/5  rDev -1.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

Big earthy, barn yard feel to this wild ale. Very little sour power, but big fruit characters. A slight spicy feel in the back of your throat. Tasty wild ale, but I wanted more mouth puckering flavor and mouthfeel.

Some of the fruit notes are bananas, very slight mango character. The smell was the best part of this sour..

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3.9/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

A - Murky light apricot, near white solid head, tight bubbled cling lace.

S - BARNY, straw, a bit acrid and malt way underneath.

T - Barn, a little Merthiolate and bandaids, settles to sharp tang and malt.

M - Medium body, good carb, good balance.

D - This beer is pretty good for the stye, but it's not my favorite style. A little too funky for session for me.

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4.82/5  rDev +22%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

Poured from 750ml into tulip

A- hazy, opaque straw colored with nice persistent head. Nice lacing left behind during the drink.

S- pretty upfront with some barnyard funk and hay then gives way to some sweetness that reminds me of apricots.

T- taste pretty accurately follows the smell. Starts awesomely funky and "bretty." As that passes I get the slightly sweet stone fruits and then finishes with a hint of bitterness.

M- dry with lots of carbonation. I don't know if it's in my head or not, but it seems to leave an oily sort of film on my lips. That sounds unappealing, but it doesn't upset me at all.

O- I'm falling in love recently with this farmhouse, wild yeast fermented style of beers and this absolutely does not disappoint. One of my favorites.

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4.6/5  rDev +16.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

12 oz bottle into PALM tulip glass.

A: Hazy amber with finger and a half of white head with some of the best retention I've seen.

S: Wild yeast, cotton candy and bubble gum. Almost indulgently sweet.

T: A funky yeast dominates with hints of the sweet bubble gum and cotton candy. A sweet/sour war on the back side almost takes your breath.

M: Medium body with fresh carbonation. Fills out the other traits nicely.

Another excellent Belgian today.

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