Red with tiny head. Sweet aroma with raspberries and some sour notes as well. Sweet flavor with raspberries, wood and discrete barnyardy notes.

375ml bottle. Opaque brown colour with a slight hint of red. Next to no head. Pronounced raspberry aroma with some yeast. Flavour of sweet raspberry with some sourness and a dry finish. Very good.

Bottle with cork: Poured a dark reddish brown with a light pink white head. Aroma is a soft raspberry along with carbonated alcohol. Taste is a bitter sweet raspberry with a nice dry tangy carbonated finish.

Draught at White Horse, Parson’s Green, London, 11 Aug 2007) Beer #1000! Deep reddish brown colour with brief off-white head. Fruity nose with dark fruit, cherries and raspberries. Fruity, slightly sourish taste with notes of dark fruit and raspberries. Sweetish. Medium body. Nice, but a bit artificial. Not as convincing as the kriek.

I wasn’t impressed with this. It looked good, brown, sizeable head. Nice aroma of sour oak and raspberry. The flavor is disappointing however. It isn’t sour, and the raspberry that is there tastes artificial. Some yeast in the flavor as well. I will rerate the next time I have this.

Draught tulip at Publick House on 7/8/07
So if this is unsweetened and the Liefmans Kriek is sweetened, I’m very surprised, as this one seemed significantly sweeter than the kriek...Anyways, it sppears a black raspberry-colored beer, with medium clarity and plentiful carbonation, topped by a rose-tinted beige head that is small but creamy and resilient. Light lacing left behind.
Strawberry/raspberry jam in the nose would not be a far-fetched approximation. Fortunately, some dark malts add light chocolate and raisins and the yeast throws in a touch of oily acidity (acetic mainly). Vanilla and other base malt sweetness is felt as well, with a bit of metallic or mineral-like notes from the berries. Interesting, but I think it gets a bit bogged down in raspberry aroma, despite the authenticity of that note. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma, no flaws.
Flavor is just too sweet for me, to come right out with it. It’s sticky, chewy and very full-bodied, without the attenuation I’d expect in what is supposed to be a Flemish sour base. Definitely some acetic notes arriving on the finish, to somewhat dry things out, with black pepper and currants as well, but it reminds me too much of Duchesse, in that it just isnt remotely "sour". Not even "tart". Just a bit of bitterness from the raspberries, a touch of acetic acid and then tons of raspberry jam, and chocolate-vanilla sweetness. Maybe it just dosent work as well on draught? On the positive side, the carbonation levels are always perfect at the Publick House, so that helped moderate some of the sweetness.
From the looks of the ratings, I should probably find myself a slightly aged bottle and give it another try.

375 ml bottle @ Kristiansand Lambic festival. Dark red, almost brown body with a pink head. Aroma is fruity raspberries. Flavor is fine, balanced sweet, acid and fruity. Fine, not extraordinary.

37.5cl bottle from Waitrose. Much less carbonation than I remember from previous tasting - the white head rapidly clearing, leaving a a slightly hazy brown beer with a purple hue; fruity aroma, but more cherry than raspberry; however the raspberry is definitely there in abundence when tasted; rounded off with a trat crisp and refreshing finish. Excellent.