The Grand Cru is one of my favourite beers, and I have regular access to it on tap at a few bars here in Toronto. I just had a bottle of it last night and I found it watery without its regular fruitiness. On Palm's Rodenbach website there is a diagram of the brewing process and it looks like while Rodenbach filters its kegged and bottled beers, the bottled beers are pasteurized while the kegged beer is not. http://newpalm.androidlabs.be/uploads/rodenbach/brouwschema_gemengdegisting_EN.jpg I am incredibly surprised that kegged Rodenbach is unpasteurized. It is noticeably different.
Nice detective work. Its my understanding that the reason kegged beers are supposed to be stored cold is that they generally are not pasturized. Bottles, however, are a different matter when it comes to storage conditions and the variability. I also think that there are two forms of pasteurization, one of which has more impact on flavors than does the other, which is why some breweries that pasturize bottles are reported to use "flash" pasteurization.
I'll second that. With all the useless forums about people whining about breweries etc. AugustusRex brings us some gold!
