Unpasteurized Rodenbach / R Grand Cru – when?

Send them to me and I will do some quality analysis. I will return the empty bottles along with a my detailed report.

 

Rodenbach used to loan out their yeast/bacterial culture to other breweries in the area, for which it commonly came to be called the "Roselare" or "Roeselare" strain. It was a pretty unique culture, containing if I'm not mistaken a Belgian pale strain, two species of brett, a sherry wine strain, an acetobacter species and one or more species of pedio. They ceased providing it to other breweries in 2000, which is why so many other beers are known to have changed around this time or shortly afterward as their stock of the strain became depleted (notably Goudenband, Stille Nacht, and Oerbier).

I think it is fair to say they probably started pasteurizing shortly after 2000. I know as early as 2004 they were pasteurized. At this point I don't know if there are actually any Flemish sours imported from Belgium that aren't pasteurized.

 

The Rodenbach "Vintage" bottlings are supposedly unpasteurized, though I haven't attempted to culture anything. If you count Oerbier Reserva as a Flanders Red (I would) it's definitely live.

OP: We drank a mid-80s Rodenbach Grand Cru last winter (January 2012) and it was really excellent -- surprisingly bright, tart sourness, minimal acetic character, slightly sweet. Also, that Alexander is going to be... amazing. 80s RA is one of the best beers I've ever had in my life, not going to try to do it justice with a description.

 

I rarely drink sours and tend to shy away from the Flemish sort, so perhaps someone else here could answer this better: isn't part of the appeal of these beers the sweetness? If so, wouldn't the modern pasteurized stuff be preferable? If the Roselare culture really did have two species or perhaps strains of brett in it I would assume they would get quite dry at some point.