I see this beer in at #144 right now on the top 250 beers. I cannot find out much online about it. What about this beer? Is it brewed every few years? Ever available in the states? I would love to know what you can tell me about this beer?
It was a Flanders Red Ale with cherries (not sure what the blend is of young and old). As far as I am aware it hasn't been made since the 90s.
It was really good. We drank our last one a couple of years ago, it was oxidized, the one we had the year before was superb. I think it was not produced after Palm bought Rodenbach, and that was a long time ago.
I'm still sitting on 2 each Alexander and (Pre-Palm) Classics. Sadly, never produced under Palm (and let us never speak of Redbach again). It was really reeeeeeeeeally good. Consider that the pre-Palm Classic was more like the current Grand Cru than the current Classic. Now think of what a cherryed up version of the Grand Cru would be like. Yeah, that! Oddly enough, this was still showing as an active beer (I just retired it).
Palm replaced Alexander with Caractere Rouge. Alexander used cherry juice, Rouge uses real cranberries, cherries, raspberries. Alexander is more popular, but Palm has been doing pretty good things with Rodenbach in my opinion.
Even De Heeren van Liedekercke is out of bottles. If anyone wants to part with one, I've got a Cantillon Blabaer with your name on it!
Alexander may have been done with just cherry juice, but I feel like the base beer was a lot better. As to it seeming to be more popular than the Caractere Rouge, I suspect a lot of that is due to Alexander's near whale status, as it clearly predates most users here.
Funny enough, I just got an email from Latis Imports (Palm's US importation company), with the following: "ALEXANDER - back by popular demand Big news for beer fans: RODENBACH Alexander is back as one of RODENBACH's limited-edition sour series. Last brewed in 2000, Alexander has become one of the most sought-after beers in the world. It is a "foederbier" (a blend of beers aged 2 years in oak foeders) macerated with sour cherries. RODENBACH Alexander was originally brewed in 1986 in commemoration of the 200th birthday of Alexander Rodenbach, co-founder of the RODENBACH brewing tradition and mayor of Rumbeke in Flanders. Now, 30 years later, RODENBACH Alexander 2014 is a worthy successor."
