Mild kirschiger, mittelstarke Säure. Diese steigt an, minimal bitter, säuerlich bleibend, rund und intensiv nach Kirschen. 10/8/9/9//9

'Oude kriek' by Timmermans (under John Martin) made with the famous Schaarbeekse sour cherries or 'griottes'; limited edition, only 6000 of these corked, frosted 75 cl bottles with artwork from a local artist were made. Part of the proceeds is spent on ecological projects so all the more reason to obtain a bottle. Highly pressurized, but no gushing; audibly fizzing, moussy, off-pinkish white head, quickly collapsing and breaking into a steady ring and flat 'islands' in the end, on an initially clear, deep fuchsia red robe with vermillion edges and minute-bubbled sparkling in the middle, turning misty and a bit deeper ruby red with sediment. Aroma of bursting ripe sour cherries indeed, lemon juice, wood sorrel, cranberries, swimming pool, fresh oak wood, very dry rosé wine, almonds, unripe pomegranate, fresh green brambleberry bush leaves, subtle background hints of prosecco, cassis, raspberry vinegar, wet clay and farmland. Very crisp onset, a sharpish and puckering fruity acidity, very lemony, combines with sharp effervescence - but then the fleshiness of the fruit comes up, mitigating the sharpness and leading the way to the rest of the flavour 'parcours'; the fleshiness is sufficient for a Schaarbeekse kriek, still a step upwards from regular oude kriek, but lacks a bit in rotundity, generosity and fruit sweetness in comparison with many other Schaarbeekse versions of oude kriek I had before. Minerally effects from this very sharp carbonation - a bit much so even for the style - continue to interfere a bit with the flavour, but a supple malt backbone makes an elegant arch over the tongue, dried by fruit acidity and lactic tartness, and still maintaining sour cherry juiciness all around, with cranberry-, green plum- and sour apple-like side effects. Ends juicy and drying, a tad vinous with even a very vague (sour) grapey accent briefly popping up, possibly from the wine barrels the lambic inhabited before it was turned into this kriek; minerally side effects, including something faintly clay-like, linger about, while wood and cherry stones add tannic astringency, even with a suggested bitter almond-like effect in the end, an astringency the Schaarbeekse 'griotten' cannot overcome due to their fleshiness being just a tad short. Brett 'funkiness' is noticeable in the background here and there, but acts like an extra with only a brief and largely unnoticed role in this play - something which may change significantly when these bottles are cellared for extended periods of time. All the way at the back, as a brief epilogue when the whole show is over, a deep, dim moment of old hop bitterness comes into play, but only as a distant echo. All in all, a pleasant enough offering from a brewery I first got to know - a long time ago in the previous century - from overly sweet 'kriek'; colourful, fruity and crisp, but the famed superior quality of this type of cherries, consistently distinguished from sour cherries in general in the lambic world, has shone more brightly in similar products by some of the competitors.