Blenderie Ommegang - Blend #003: Super Kriek
Brewery Ommegang

RB transfer

 

 

Cellared bottle a couple of years. Dark ruby body with a cream colored thick collar. Let this one warm up! Nose is led by cherry, lacto, and brett with oak underpinnings and hay, standard stuff. Taste once warmed, opens up: cherry with the sweet sherry, lacto, and hint of raspberry backing up meet the sour oak, brett, barrel funk, hay, balsamic vinegar, and a touch of dry earth. A fun new a world take. Feel is sour, darker and heavier in complexion, but not acidic and decently clean. Would give another year or so, want that sweet fruit there but might draw out more with a little more time

 

 

Bottle shared by Ben. Cheers!

On draught at City Swiggers, NYC.

Pours a raspberry and ruby red like color. A nice sized pinkish foam head retains well.

The nose displays some nice Lambic type qualities, with funky and musty notes of earth and oak, and emoting acidity. Aromas of cherry dominate, and are complimented by notes of lemon, lime, wine, vinegar and a sourdough and wheat malt base.

Very tart and sour with fruity notes, funky and musty, and lots of oaky character. Complex with notes of cherries, wine barrels, lemon, red wine vinegar, peppery spices, sourdough and wheat. The finish is bone dry with a mouth puckering acidicity.

Medium bodied with a bone dry and acidic palate. Slick mouthfeel with a lightly chewy malt base. The carbonation is moderate.

This was a nice Kriek Lambic style beer. It felt very authentic with complex notes of cherry, oak and assertively sour. So refreshing, I would definitely have again.

On tap at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY.

This one pours a dark clear brown color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like funky and slightly sweet cherry, oak, red wine, tannins, lemon, and brine.

This is pretty intense but enjoyable. It seems that the 7 year cherry beer in the blend has added an intense concentrated funkiness to this - it's slightly sweet, funky, woody, and complex. There's also cherry juice, red wine, a hint of acetic character, lemon, and caramel.

This is light bodied, with a lingering sourness on the back end. It's definitely a slower sipper.

This is a really cool blend, and it worked out well for the most part here.

 

Blenderie Ommegang Blend No. 003 Super Kriek from Brewery Ommegang. Brewed at the mother ship, Liefmans. Purchased 11/10/20 for $ 19.16 (Including tax and discount) for 25.4 oz cork and cage bottle ($ 0.754/oz) from State Line Liquor, Elkton, MD. On shelf at store and stored at home at 42 degrees. Reviewed 10/1/21.
Marked on label (bottom rear) “BEST BY 010923 LO10920 09:08 T3”. Served at 43 degrees (Bottle suggests 42 degrees) in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 53.0 degrees. Opens with a distinct “POP” but no geyser.
Appearance – 3.5.
First pour – Pale amber (SRM 9), clear.
Body – Medium amber (SRM 12), murky. When held to direct rear light, light ruby/garnet and hazy.
Head – Average (Maximum 3.5 cm, aggressive center pour), peach schnapps, medium density, short retention, leaving a 0.1 to 0.3 mm crown fed by effervescence, and a thin partial cap. Some pieces of lacing remain as the head retracts.
Lacing – Very good. Wide sheet of mostly near-microscopic bubbles with an undulating upper boundary and a single prominence above the otherwise solid wall.
Aroma – 4 – Begins weak, with a slight sourness, no malt, no hops, no yeast. No cherry, no funk. Quickly becomes a memory.
Flavor – 4 – Sour and oaky with more tannin than vanillin, no malt, no hops, no yeast. No alcohol (7 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Imaginary cherry. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Maintains a mild tangy sourness throughout.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, creamy, aggressive carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.75 Overall, pleasing oaky brew, although the cherry doesn’t appear until the evaluation end at 53 degrees. I would have been more comfortable (and rated it higher) if Liefmans had described this as an oud bruin with cherries added rather than a kriek beer “It’s Super Krieky”. Sorry Rick James – I’m sure the pun was intended.

 

 

Taking pages right of the scene of Zenne Valley, Ommegang doesn't just dabble with the fruited Lambic syles, they jump right into the deep end of the pool head first. Laced with copious amounts of cherries and left to ripen in the barrels, their Kriek is flirting with superiority.

Pouring a glowing and rosy rouge color, the frothy and zesty sour ale races to the rim with a tantalizing and earthen perfume of stone fruit, pitted fruit, dark berry, soft brine, a twinge of peppery red wine and a damp mustiness of cellar-like conditions. Its gentle sweetness of hard fruit-centric candies, taffy and sourdough graces the early palate in a mildly malty introduction.

As the ale embarks upon the middle palate, its sweetness loosens and its cherry flavor condenses, to provide an overcast of sour red cherries throughout. Underneath, the sourness plays out like crabapple, lime, lemon and a hint of grapefruit. Slightly off vinegar and cleanly lactic, a piquant vinous spice decorates the finish along with a light straw-like bitterness and a slight phenolic twinge of vinyl.

Medium light and and highly refreshing, Super Kriek easily fits home in the Brussel's cafe, finishing quickly with pepper, acidity and cherries. A brief aftertaste of cellar must and sea brine echoes softly afterwards.

Slightly more than a finger's worth of off-white head with blush undertones... Audibly fizzy... Modest at best retention... The color is a murky brown... The nose is insanely complex... Yes all the expected notes are there - cherries, oak, tartness and barnyard... However, I also get some very unusual notes such as freshly grilled beef, pan drippings and strong vanilla (not a bad thing)... The palate is equally complex and utterly enjoyable... It's all the expected notes but on steroids... Each competing for prominence in a crescendo of flavor... On the lighter side of medium bodied... Lively carbonation... Saliva inducing tartness... A touch of stickiness... A slight astringent dryness on the finish... WOW - I loved this beer... Best beer I've had in quite some time, possibly years... World class and an absolute show stopper...

 

Bright reddish orange, tight champagne carb, lots of drippy lacing.

Aroma is acidic and cherry forward, light lacto and vinous sherry notes.

Tart and crisp, pleasant sour cherry with good depth of flavor. Vinous feel, effervescent and crisp. As it warms, very light Brett surfaces.

Interesting blend, the kriek and sherry are there, though the oud bruin is buried into nonexistence. Maybe they meant flanders red... at any rate, check out Cnudde Bizon from Eine, BE for an indirect inspiration (oud bruin & kriek blend).