7.9

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

Bottle. best before april 2033. Color: Clear orangish dark red, pink head. Aroma: Cherry, wood, herbal wood notes, some smoke(?), funky hints. Taste: Dark cherry, cherry kernel notes, blueberry, herbal / spicy wood notes, oak wood, vanilla, vinuous, red wine, subtle Sherry, hints of smoke(?). Rural funk hints. Surprisingly complexity for a Kriek. I had to get used to it, but the further the bottle empties, the more I like this beer.

7.5

Suprised to have a GUSHER.

7.8

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

75cl bottle (7,5%) from Colruyt Etterbeek Jourdan in Brussels. F: big, pink white, long lasting. C: deep red, clear. A: sour cherries, woody, tannins, marzipan, vinous, bit smoked, red berries, blackberries. T: medium to full malty base, cherries all the way long like cherries skin, pits, jam, red berries, woody, tannins, dry on the palate, bit vinous, vanilla, soft carbonation, very nice complex for the style, fully enjoyed.

6.6

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

Gents Bier Festival 2023 - Blood red colour with no head Aroma and flavour have cherry and almond. Cherry pits. Nice sour. Fruity. Too much cherry pit though.

8.3

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

Small off-white rim over clear, deep-red beer. Rich, vinous, fully red berries and fruit at first, smoked whiff, going over in ripened cherries, cherry wine. Soft-sweet, lightly acidic red berries, cranberries. Again slightly smoked. Sandalwood as for cigarboxes leaf. Light bodied, fine carbonation, fruitslick. I find it definitely better than the first Xtra, despite the lower ABV. All the better for it!

7.8

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

Pours dark pinkred, small pinkwhite head. Scent is full, cherry, mildly sweet impression. Taste is full, cherry, tart - no real sweetness here. Medium body, medium high carbo. Mild funk almost, subtile wood. More than decent !

7.8

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

New edition of Liefmans Kriek Brut and the second 'Xtra' version after the first one of 2021, this time celebrating the late Rosa Merckx, the iconic lady brewer who lead the historical Liefmans brewery and blendery for almost half a century and deceased recently, at close to a century of age. To commemorate this legend, who operated as a female brewer long before those became (a bit) more common, Liefmans pulled out a string of aged beers (both kriek and Goudenband, the oldest dating back to 2014) and blended them with a custom-made blonde which in itself was first aged for three months - read the description of what constitutes this blend, and try to make a Venn diagram or something out of it for visual comprehension... Bottle of 75 cl - evidently wrapped in paper - from a Colruyt supermarket, which, as with the first Kriek Brut Xtra, seems to have the monopoly on this festive blend. Moussy, membrane-lacing, pale pink-tinged off-white, slowly opening head, clear ruby red robe - remaining clear till the end so obviously filtered. Aroma of cooked cherries as well as candied cherries, clear vanilla-scenting oak wood, blackberry coulis, marzipan, caramel, tawny port, granulated sugar to even slight (cherry-flavoured) chewing gum, plum jam, red candy but not too strong, very light hints of bourbon and passionfruit. Sweet-sour onset but more sweet than sour, light passionfruit and red plum but of course primarily a lot of sweet, even candied cherry as well as more tart sour cherry, sprinkled with granulated sugar - so that I cannot deny a certain red candy effect, though it admittedly remains subtle; soft carb, smooth caramelly maltiness buried in yoghurty and passionfruity, soft tartness and cherry wine-like vinosity. A light lemony sourness sits at the edges, along with a growing vanilla-flavoured woodiness, tannic but altogether mild, highlighting brief and restrained flashes of red wine, bourbon and sherry, but blink and you will miss them. Soft, soursweet, vinous, rich finish, utterly red-fruity in an almost exaggerated way - but combining several layers of flavour and acting as generously as the late Mrs. Merckx did. Utter elegance, almost in a 'feminin' kind of way, balancing between deep complexity and frivolous accessibility and in that sense aimed to still please a large audience; to me, the sugared cherry beer Moortgat created as a follow-up to the original Liefmans Kriekenbier is a bit too prominent here - and I know that the original was also sweetened, but it did sugariness in a more 'natural' and far less industrial way than its 'Moortgatized' successor. Elegant and complex as this blend may be, I cannot help but miss a full-fledged tribute to what old Liefmans was under Mrs. Merckx' leadership: naturally complex, unfiltered, earthy and bright all at once. Why filter this one and understate the full potential of all the aged beer that went in here? This feels like a missed opportunity - but I am willing to admit that yes, I guess in the end and despite being different from what I was hoping for, this is a worthy tribute to one of Belgium's most remarkable twentieth-century brewing icons, so cheers to 'la grande dame Rosa', your legacy will doubtlessly live on for generations.