7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

750ml bottle. Slightly sour and earthy with some maltiness and floral notes, hints of apples

8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

75cl @ Ratebeer Odense Christmas Get Together, 2022. Pours Hazy deep Golden with a small White head. White Wine, funk, Oak, touch of vanilla. Sesame and barnyard. Dry funky finish.

8

Juleafslutning i Ratebeer, Odense. December 2022 hos Mads. Cloudy golden with a lasting white head. Aroma of citrus and delicate, complex funk. Dry and medium tart fruity flavour with citrus and gooseberry.

8.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Flaska från Etre BXL-2022 drucken med ölföreningen. Snarlik Cuvee de Ranke med pigg syra, lätta tanniner, omogen frukt, lätt beska. Så elegant och välkomponerad. Mycket gott

8.1

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Bottle. Also not sure what makes this different from their regular cuvée. Bit hazy golden with small head. Soft dried flowers, apricot, orange zest, grapefruit, soft funk. Some sweet malts, lemon sourness and woody and herbal bitterness. Solid medium bodied. Pretty complex and tasty, good stuff.

8.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

75cl bottle from Etre Gourmet web shop. F: medium, egg-white, average retention. C: gold, hazy. A: peach, woody, bit brett, floral, caramel touch, grapes, plums. T: medium to full malty base, peach, green apples, grapes, brett, woody, gooseberries, nice balanced bitterness, bready touch, funky, dry on the palate, medium carbonation, great one, fully enjoyed.

8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

Special edition of De Ranke’s classic ‘versnijbier’ Cuvée De Ranke, made for this year’s BXL Beerfest; explained by the brewer as a blend of old stock ale and lambic, it remains completely obscure to me where the difference with classic Cuvée De Ranke, in existence for fifteen years now, exactly lies… Is there a difference in the aged ‘base’ beer, is it the lambic which comes from another producer, is it the ratio of both, or still something else? I would love to find out. Anyway, rating from the 75 cl bottle from the BXL Beerfest pack, shared with Craftmember. Thick, egg-white, cobweb-lacing, dense and stable head, clear pale orange ‘old golden’ robe, turning misty with sediment. Aroma of green apple, unripe peach, wood sorrel, old dry sherry, fresh mugwort leaf, dust, wet wood, dry hay, grape skin, plum peel, sow thistle. Astringent, tart onset but not in a vinegary way, lots of juiciness reminiscent of both red and green apples, hints of pear and unripe stonefruit, softish carb with somewhat oily, rounded mouthfeel. Bread-crusty malt core dried by lactic tartness, woody tannins and ongoing sour fruit notes, ranging from green apple to unripe plum; a pronounced ‘old’ hop bitterness raises its head in the finishing stage, hayish, drying and even wormwoody, eventually becoming quite pronounced, but keeping pace with the dryness of the lactic acidity and wood effects. Everything merges well in the end; I had a Cuvée De Ranke the day after this one and even though it is hard to put my finger on it, there is certainly a difference, with the latter being a bit less bitter and mellower in general but certainly not less sour, as if more ‘malse’ lambic was used than in the BXL version. I will stop guessing what the exact difference between both is now and grant Cuvée BXL a high score because like the original Cuvée De Ranke, it is a top notch ‘versnijbier’ of blonde and lambic, without any doubt.