7.6/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Belgian ale enriched with a generous dosis of sour cherries, has been in existence for years now but I still hadn’t tried it, so many thanks to Stefan for sharing this three year old (2014) bottle - which is apparently at 7% ABV rather than the 6.6% given here. Dense, very thick, ’dirty pink white’, lacing yet unstable head over a misty deep cherry red beer with brownish hue, turning into a very murky brownish red in the end. Aroma offers a lot of sour cherry, ’kriekenjenever’, damp hay, cherry pits, fermenting plums, red raspberries, damp earth, cloves, grape peel, ruby port, red wine vinegar, touch orange peel. Sour cherries in the onset and a lot of them, I’m guessing Duysters got inspired by the cherry lambics in using 200-300 grams of the fruit per liter; they establish a sharpish, at first even almost lemony acidity that cuts through the whole beer, drying the throat; a sweetish blue plum and nectarine accent sits in the middle of this. Carbonation is fizzy, mouthfeel lighter than I’d expect from a 7% beer. Bready malt backbone with a ’deep’ sourish wheaty side to it. In the finish, a lot of complexity is added: totally unexpectedly, a sweet cherry jam flavour pops up, immediately followed by a deep, earthy hop bitterness reinforced by tannins from the cherry seeds and skins and eventually accompanied by a long, warming, gin-like alcohol effect as well as a subtle touch of port- or red wine-like oxidation. Probably consumed at about just the right age, with this onsetting, still very faint portorisation effect adding complexity, but with the generous dosis of fruit acidity and flavour still intact, this was way better than I had imagined... A pleasant discovery, strange I never had this before but bottles of about this age are certainly worth seeking out. Quite unique.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Aug 2017
at 20:33
4.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 4
2006 375mL bottle drunk 5/11/17.
Wanted to hang on to this to see if the Duyster’s beer would lose its sweetness and hopefully the lambic would really take over. It’s still well-carbonated, with a big white head and a clear brassy-bronze golden body.
Tons of peach ester intermingled with alcohol, light lactic acid and lots of rich honey and caramel. There are still some off-notes, even after 11 years, including strong cotton candy, light saccharine and a bit of metal. Really just seems like a boozy tripel which has been pumped full of sugar. If the lambic has helped this at all, I certainly can’t tell.
In the mouth it fares even worse. Sugary and sweet with sharp alcohol and odd, almost vegetal-tinged acidity on the finish. Powdered sugar, heavy cotton candy, big peach and bubble gum esters, too much caramel...the list goes on....Lightly engaging carbonation and a syrupy, slick, sweet body. I remember this one being pretty gross when young but it looks like age didn’t help it either. Oh well.
Wanted to hang on to this to see if the Duyster’s beer would lose its sweetness and hopefully the lambic would really take over. It’s still well-carbonated, with a big white head and a clear brassy-bronze golden body.
Tons of peach ester intermingled with alcohol, light lactic acid and lots of rich honey and caramel. There are still some off-notes, even after 11 years, including strong cotton candy, light saccharine and a bit of metal. Really just seems like a boozy tripel which has been pumped full of sugar. If the lambic has helped this at all, I certainly can’t tell.
In the mouth it fares even worse. Sugary and sweet with sharp alcohol and odd, almost vegetal-tinged acidity on the finish. Powdered sugar, heavy cotton candy, big peach and bubble gum esters, too much caramel...the list goes on....Lightly engaging carbonation and a syrupy, slick, sweet body. I remember this one being pretty gross when young but it looks like age didn’t help it either. Oh well.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Jun 2017
at 16:11
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle - Vintage 2012 - Soured and apple and green grape. Glossy gold with a nice beige head. Sweet, light earthy and oak notes with an umame note. Odd. As it sits and warms the nose and taste to get better and more typical, but still not great.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 May 2017
at 10:29
8.2/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle. Opaque deep brown, ruby highlights. Big well-lacing ivory head. The aroma is malty and yeasty. Big dark fruit and spice. Banana. Very estery. Medium to full body. Soft carbonation. Medium sweet taste. Caramel, nuts, prune and other dried fruit, spicy yeast. Vinous. Low bitterness. Never mind. It is very good anyway.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 May 2017
at 15:34
6.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
75 cl bottle. Pours hazy yellow, small white head. Aroma is bretty and slight fruity. High carbonation. Mellow fruity, bretty and slight herbal. Dry, bitter and bretty into the far finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Apr 2017
at 07:03
6.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
33 cl bottle. Pours clear and golden red. Small pink head. Aroma is light fruity. Phneolic, oxidised and toasted malty. Dry malty and phenolic. Toaste malty and herbal finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Apr 2017
at 07:01
8.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Many thanks for this amazing beer to tderoeck. Vintage 2010. Siedmio letnie piwo owocowe. Gdybym mial zawiazane oczy to bym powiedzial ze pieje porzadnego Oude Krieka. Doskonaly wyglad rozowo-czerwona barwa, piana srednia jasno rozowa szybko opada. Metniste na dnie wersji bez etykiety z pszewieszka tylko. Cudowny aromat porzeczek, malini wisni. W smaku owocowa pelnia, na poczatku lekko slodkie przypominalo tarte alzacka wysmarowana dzemem malinowo wisniowym. Potem im wiekszy lyk z osadem tym bardziej kwaskowe i cierpkie czerwone porzeczki, kwaskowosc zdecydowanie bierze gore, dominuje a wokolo caly czas unosi sie won sadu mlodych drzew owocowych. Jeden z moich Top 10 Fruit beer. Rozkosz ta idealne wspolgrala z gesia watrobka.
Tried
on 01 Apr 2017
at 10:40
8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
2012 Bottle (37,5 cL) Clear and ever so slightly hazy bronze and copper coloured body with a very thin off-white head. Aroma of sour gueuze with a touch of yeast, bread, grain and alcohol, but finishing with the sourness - nice! Light to Medium-bodied; Assertive effervescence up front with a nice sour quality that hits up front and then shows a lot of the bread, yeast, grain, alcohol and very elegant grassy and biere de garde flavours that finishes with the added punch of a gueuze. Aftertaste is nice and pungent with the yeast and sour qualities, but very smooth, especially for the alcohol content, but makes sense with the age in the bottle and the sediment. Overall, a nice and rich, elegant beer that shows very nicely and has some great flavours and subdued, complex notes that only touch near the finale. Great to sample and well worth saving! I sampled this 37,5 cL corked and caged bottle as #9 of my set of 13 special tastings for celebrating #6000, with this one being extra special, since the vintage is the year of my first born kid! I sampled this 37,5 cL corked and caged (2012 bottle) purchased from Bier Tempel in Bruxelles, Belgium on 18-January-2015 for €3,50 sampled at home in Washington on the other side of the Atlantic on 21-March-2017.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Mar 2017
at 03:13
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottle @ De Heeren van Liedekercke. Hazy red brown with a lasting beige head. Aroma is sweet, malty, nutty and roasted malt. Flavor is quite sweet and moderate bitter. Sweet and moderate bitter finish. 190317
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Mar 2017
at 09:30
7.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle shared thhanks to kermis. Hazy orange with a thin white head. Notes of lambic funk, caramel, belgian yeast. Medium body and carbonation and a bitter-sweet finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Dec 2016
at 15:45