Oud Bruin Raspberry
(has 5 batches)

8 3 7 3 15 Draft at Foeders, Amsterdam. Dark brown with a reddish touch. Aroma of overripe dark fruit, chocolate, raspberry, caramel, malt. Flavour is above moderate sweet and light to moderate sour. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. [24/06/2017]

From tap. Pours hazy amber, small off white head. Aroma is raspberry, perfumed and light sulphorish. Citric, dry, mild acetone. Sour and citric. Dense raspberry and dry citrusy finish.

Tap @Taphouse. Slightly hazy red amber, offwhite head. Raspberry aroma. Sour, tart rasberey flavour. Acetic, woody notes. Raspberry overload. Lovely.

Draft. A hazy amber beer with a beige head. The aroma has notes of raspberries, vinegar, and acetone. The flavor is sour with notes of raspberries, brettanomyces, acetone, lemons, and vinegar, leading to a tart finish.

Bardzo malinowy, bardzo kwasny i wlasciwie na tym koniec, bardzo prosty, nie zlozony

The newest Verzet Oud Bruin variation, from a 75 cl bottle with the usual brown hangtag mentioning "harvest 2016" and "best before February 2027" so I assume this was bottled two months ago. Thin, pale greyish off-white, rather loose head consisting of irregular but minute bubbles, quickly dissolving in the middle but retaining as a thin rim; hazy bronze-ish copper red colour with warm vermillion glow, some large, loose bubbles rising up every now and then. Extremely fruity aroma in which the elegant, aromatic sweetness of ripe red raspberries and a tangy raspberry vinegar effect enthusiastically pierce through an estery and malty blanket of blue plums, fried tomatoes (or rather the green tomato- or tomato paste-like scent that always seems to accompany real raspberries in sour beer), quite a lot of ’old furniture’ woodiness and even wood wax, redcurrant, blueberry, dry earth, caramel candy somewhere underneath, blue grape peel, wry unripe peach, very old sherry, acorns fermenting on a forest floor, raw beetroot, red wine vinegar, quite strong glueish solvent, artisanal unsugared yoghurt, rhubarb. Crisp, immediately sour onset, wine (and of course raspberry) vinegar-like puckering and quickly getting the company of a softer, yet still very dry lactic sourness quickly; the overall acidic burn carries along a mouthwatering amount of tart raspberry juice and plum-, rhubarb- and redcurrant-like flavours all well-soaked in sourness. Carbonation remains soft, mouthfeel is lean and a tad vinous; underneath the ongoing vinegar and lactic sourness and tart fruitiness, a sweetish caramelly malt core lurks, bringing some relief in all this acidity. Lots of dry, wax- and furniture-like woodiness in the end, adding a significant amount of tannic dryness along with the - I presume - skins and seeds of the raspberries; an earthy touch (yeast?) shows up all the way at the back, but no true hop bitterness except from a very light leafy accent providing nothing but essential structure hidden behind the curtains. The vinegary, tart raspberry juice and lactic acidic sourness dominate the finish and dry and scours the throat, almost as if you’ve swallowed a spoonful of raspberry vinegar; the effect of this is that saliva is produced automatically, sharpening the appetite. Literally a mouthwatering sour ale, this one, just like its cherry and grape brethren; the wax- and glue-like solvents are a tad too sharp and outspoken here and as with previous editions with other fruits, I think tuning down a bit on the acidity and letting the rounded, caramelly malt sweetish core speak more loudly could do these beers good. But then, the brewer told me that he likes it this way, so who am I to judge - and doubtlessly a whole international audience of young beer geeks raving over sours will like it with him. I like it too, but I regret not having had the patience to keep this in the cellar for a few years, I have a suspicion that this would soften the sharp acidity a bit and add some maderisation, which can turn out truly beautiful in this type of beers. In this young, sharp, almost rebellious form: ideal palate cleaner to start a new tasting session with, and probably a beer with endless possibilities in the kitchen as well. The delicately sweet and ’rosy’ raspberry scent, however volatile (actually fading away as the bottle remains opened for a long time), makes this the most elegant of the fruit versions of Verzet Oud Bruin so far, to my personal opinion at least.