6.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

New (2020) product from this Antwerp “champagne beer” specialist: the fruited ‘Rozat’ version (with added cherry) but bottle-conditioned, with the champagne yeast still present in the bottle, as is the case with the regular, non-fruited Brut Sur Lie. From a 75 cl luxury bottle with cork and muselet; opens with a bang and a lot of ‘gunsmoke’. Towering high, bath foam-like, crackling, plastery lacing, very pillowy, pale pink-white head on a misty ruby red beer with vermillion glow ad nicely vivid sparkling everywhere. Aroma of cherry jam and some candied cherries, Sekt, dried white bread, spring blossoms, rosé wine, dust, a bit of ‘petrichor’ and gypsum, freshly cut red apples, hibiscus, cold rosehip tea, dry hay, dried plum kernels or indeed cherry pits. Sweet onset but not sticky and overly sugary, candied cherry and cherry jam flavour dominating with side notes of red apple and a touch of strawberry, vivid but very ‘refined’ sparkling (as is the intention with this kind of beers), light sourish undertone; ongoing cherry juiciness and fruity, well-measured sweetness over a supple dry-bready base, lean and gracious, encountering mild hop and champagne yeast bitterness in the finish, the latter indeed adding that typical ‘brut’ flavour, while aspects of hay, dried hibiscus flower and rosehip linger. Somehow this beer, intended as a sweet and fruity “aperitif”, manages to offer a lot of cherry sweetness and at the same time keep that sweetness firmly in place , so that it does not become annoyingly cloying anywhere (something I admit I did fear a bit before opening this bottle). The beery equivalent of rosé champagne in a way, feels like a traditional Belgian cherry beer blended with champagne, but impressively balanced. Elegant and enjoyable, though I still prefer the non-fruited beers in this range.