Hazy dark reddish brown colour, beige foam. Nose of oak, red wine, balsamico, taste is fruity, tart, woody. Not acetic and well balanced. Good new Oud Bruin!

New 'oud bruin' made the traditional southern Flemish way, with oak ageing (on wine barrels) and blending - not quite the easiest option for a beginning brewer, so kudos to that alone. Bottle from the brewery. Thick, frothy, egg-white, densely and regularly structured, stable head on an initially clear ruddy dark amber beer with coppery highlights and a steady column of fine but fierce sparkling rising up from the bottom; misty and deeper ruddy brown with sediment. Aroma of sour plums, dry caramel, old brown bread, red wine vinegar, redcurrant, dusty old wood, some less flattering but faint and volatile hints of old rubber, worn out rubber bands even, dust and farmland. Spritzy, tart onset, a tad puckering even but not really vinegary in spite of a certain red wine vinegar flavour somewhere, very estery in a sour way with notes of redcurrant, sour unripe plums, unripe nectarine and a dash of passionfruit, with a slight touch of sweetness hidden within; fizzy carbonation but in a 'fine-bubbled' way, yet perhaps a tad much still for this style. Supple body, hard-caramelly and brown-bready malts strongly dried by sharpish but fruity and colourful lactic acid; vague and deeply buried hop bitter touch all the way at the back, almost hidden in a vinous, woody, fruity, tart and fairly complex finish. Wood and dry red wine notes linger along with this bitter touch and continuing fruity sourness. Some very small cosmetic flaws here and there, but generally speaking, this is indeed a very credible, genuine Flemish red, as the style is often called in English (thanks Michael Jackson), with a fair amount of complexity and a lively estery fruitiness; feels very traditional and authentic in spite of only having been in existence since this year. Not a bad effort at an unforgiving style - have a point for daring to tackle it, but I am more interested in how this interesting project will further develop.