(330ml bottle from Systembolaget) Pours a clear copper colour with a small stable white ring and small lace. Aroma is quite sour and has some lambic-like character, notes of golden raisins, soft brandy, some tart berries, sherry vinegar, quite oaky, caramel malt, vanilla touches, some cobwebby attic funkiness. Flavour has high bright acidic notes, softly fruity with white wine vinegar, tart gooseberry, grape skin, light caramel, citrusy lactic acid, oak with some vanilla, soft leather, just beyond tart into sour on the tongue, dry in the finish with soft tannin and a bit of dustiness, lingering wine vinegar in the aftertaste. Medium bodied with very soft carbonation, and a little oiliness. Quite nice, feels a little different to the normal one, more obvious grape-like character. Solid beer.

How: Bottle.
Where: Systembolaget.
Appearance: Amber colour with a small tan head.
Aroma: Vinous, vanilla, vinegar, sour, fruit.
Body: Medium body and carbonation.
Flavour: Sour, fruit, tart, vinous.

Bottle. Pours a golden pale amber color with a small white head. Has a fruity sour tart woody aroma. Fruity sour tart woody flavor with hints of caramel. Has a fruity sour tart woody finish.

Flaska från SB. Klar rödbrun i färgen med tjusigt smutsvitt skum. Körsbär, hallon, kolaremmar, brunt socker. Även lite gröna druvor och fin fatkaraktär. Inte lika skarp som vanliga Cuvéen. Gott!

Bottle from SB. Pours clear, deep, reddish amber. Acetic vinegar, winegum, red berries, oak and balanced tartness. Slightly puckering, but dangerously drinkable.

Bockor’s pure ’foederbier’ (a very rare sight outside of this brewery) aged on cognac barrels for a year and a half, draught at Zythos Bierfestival, which apparently was the only occasion where it could be tasted... Some loose off-white bubbles quickly disappearing altogether leaving no head at all, hazy amberish gold with warm orange hue. Lovely, estery and woody aroma of overripe plum, sour redcurrant, soaking wet oak wood, sherry vinegar, yoghurt, unripe gooseberries, kiwi, fermenting pear, soggy bread, old madera, minerals. Very estery, fruity onset, lots of red berry and unripe stonefruit tartness but not too sharply acidic, grape peel wry touch, vinous and slick mouthfeel, as good as flat; soft caramelly and slightly bready malt core buried underneath ongoing, gently drying, very sherry-like tartness, the dryness accentuated in the end by soft wet oak wood and warming, indeed subtly brandy-ish alcohol; the sherry-like factor lingers after that. Subtle sour, something loosely situated in between oud bruin and ’real’ lambic so best characterized as a ’sour ale’ in general I reckon, like the regular ’foederbier’ I tasted from this brewery eleven years ago, but with a warming cognac factor and more oakiness added. Bockor - or Vander Ghinste as they are now officially called - has recently invested in expanding brewing capacities but sadly they seem to concentrate more on completely obsolete Belgian strong ales (Omer, LeFort) these days, ales which would already have been old-fashioned if they had been launched twenty years ago. I cannot understand why in this day and age and with such a potential, capacity and experience in wooden barrels and ’wild’ fermentation based on what was originally a ’true’ lambic yeast, this brewery does not concentrate on elaborating a lot more on sour ales. The fact that this one, probably by far the best beer they ever produced, is made for a festival only and will not be bottled, says it all. I think the Vander Ghinste family has to wake up and smell the sour if they want to offer an ever-shifting craft beer world something that makes a lasting impression - but I fear that is not so much where their ambitions lie. I hope we’ll see a lot more of these wild / sour ale variations from them in the future and I seize this opportunity to heartily encourage them to do so!

F: almost no. C: amber, hazy. A: fruity, barnyard, woody, brett, vinegar, complex. T: fruity, woody, light fruity vinegar sourness, brett, lemon peels, medium body, medium carbonation, great one, fully enjoyed, thanks to tderoeck and kraddel for sharing beers today! Sampled from tap @ ZBF 2017 Leuven.