7.6

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

'Oud bruin' by Straete, a one-man operation which has pleasantly surprised me in the past weeks (and which coincidentally is more or less situated in the historic region of 'oud bruin' - or 'Vlaams rood' as he calls it, Michael Jackon's pioneering style guidelines in mind); the odd thing here is that this one is apparently flavoured with meadowsweet, an indigenous marsh plant with beautiful white flowers I have encountered in culinary contexts (both food and drink) several times, but never in a Flemish red. Quite thick, pale yellowish beige, densely moussey, regular head resting stable on a misty deep chestnut brown beer with burgundy hue. Aroma of wild blackberries, balsamico, wet wood (no vanilla though - rather the peppery character of chestnut wood, which is the kind used here), dry caramel, passionfruit, sour cherries, damp earth, forest floor even, oxidized red wine, apple vinegar, red plum, homemade yoghurt, cranberry sauce, rhubarb, moss, freshly fermented farmland, sweat, stale orange juice. Crisp, estery onset, lots of red plum, blackberry, redcurrant and passionfruit with dashes of pear and medlar here and there, sweetish core edged by a yoghurty, sharpish lactic acidity which never becomes harshly vinegary but instead adds a line of colourful, tart fruitiness that runs through the entire beer, piercing through its caramelly and brown-bready malt bowels and connecting with a noble woodiness in the finish. I cannot say I can taste the meadowsweet, its delicate features must have perished in the sourness, softly spicy chestnut wood effects and ageing process (even though I do believe it adds a certain background herbaceousness and in that sense resides in the same depths as the hops), but tart red and dark fruits do continue till the last drop, carried by this rustic oakiness and the overall lactic sourness. The ending phase has a deep, 'rural' farmland aspect to it, a 'dirty' earthiness seen in other artisanal representatives of the genre as well (think Verzet or Alvinne), only adding to its authenticity. Feels a lot more 'artisanal' than the classic, familiar brands (Rodenbach Grand Cru, Duchesse de Bourgogne) and, importantly, omits the added sugars so that the esters and acids can fully develop. Well thought-out, 'genuine' and characterful example of this waning but ancient Belgian style, which as a whole is to be considered the grandfather of a whole spectrum of elaborate, barrel-aged, mixed fermentation sour ales; Straete, for the fourth time in my case, does not disappoint so allow me to repeat what I have stated here before: this brewery is one to watch, especially in a time when the great global craft beer hype is silently declining, with more and more of these postmodern breweries ceasing operations lately. In that context, Straete comes as a late but very welcome refreshment. Very credible, very honest and - for an altogether notoriously 'difficult' genre - very well done.