alex_leit (19738) reviewed XII Flemish Red Ale from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle 33 cl. Bronze or red-brown colour, good creamy foam. Aroma: sour, strong, grape vinegar, homemade grape wine, barrel and slightly sweet caramel. Taste: pleasantly sour, balsamic vinegar, house wine, a little caramel, good.
Tom (2084) ticked XII Flemish Red Ale from SOSAB 4 years ago
vinivini (12875) reviewed XII Flemish Red Ale from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Appearance: Cloudy bronze, decent ivory-coloured frothy head. Aroma: Pleasant wild yeast, caramel, fruity notes, oak. Taste: Pretty dry and sour. Malt, caramel, oak barrel, fruity notes, Mouth feel: Medium minus body. Appropriate carbonation. Summary: Decent if not good.
tderoeck (22946) reviewed XX Pale Grand Cru from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
23/XI/21 - 33cl bottle, shared @ HoReCa Expo (Gent), BB: 16/I/23 (2021-1491) Thanks to the Ghent beer posse for sharing today’s beers!
Clear blond orange beer, small creamy white head, stable, non adhesive. Aroma: fruity start, spicy, some coriander and cardamom, soapy and floral impression. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sourish start, lemony, fruity, acidic burn, nice stuff! Aftertaste: very sour, fruity, some green apples, lots of agrum, citrus notes.
tderoeck (22946) reviewed XII Flemish Red Ale from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
23/XI/21 - 33cl bottle, shared @ HoReCa Expo (Gent), BB: 16/I/23, 6% version (2021-1490) Thanks to the Ghent beer posse for sharing today’s beers!
Clear to little cloudy brown beer, small creamy beige head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: malty start, rather oxidized, some vinegar notes, spicy, some red fruits. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bit sweet, very acidic, vinegar touch, some red wine (from the barrels?), fruity, sour cherries, dry, little bitter, some tannins. Aftertaste: more acidity, vinegar notes, fruity, bitter finish, some tannins, dry finish, very acidic, burns quite a bit in the throat. Decent and interesting one, but needs some fine-tuning.
tderoeck (22946) reviewed IX Echte Kriek from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
23/XI/21 - 33cl bottle, shared @ HoReCa Expo (Gent), BB: 15/XI/24 (2021-1489) Thanks to the Ghent beer posse for sharing today’s beers!
Clear dark brown beer, small creamy off-white head, stable, bit adhesive. Aroma: sweet, lots of cherry flavoured candy, sugary sweet impression, hint of acidity. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: sweet start, lots of acidity, fruity, cherry flavoured candy, fruity notes. Aftertaste: acidic, lemony, some vinegar even, very sourish, fruity, some cherries, bit dry. Weird combo of very high acidity with rather artificial fruitiness.
Alengrin (11675) reviewed XX Pale Grand Cru from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9
Barrel aged blonde by this interesting new project in West Flanders, specializing in the locally native 'oud bruin' style, bottle from De Picker in Zele. Towering high, foamy, egg-white, densely pillowy, plaster-like lacing, very stable head on an initially clear, deep orange-glowing 'old golden' beer with fierce swirls of sparkling rushing upwards, sustaining the head; lightly misty and deeper 'metallic' orange with sediment. Intriguing aroma of fermenting apple, passionfruit, glazed pear, dusty attic, dry earth, apple vinegar, hints of candied pineapple, sweet sherry, dried orange peel, oxidized rosé wine, buttermilk, green kiwi, balsamico, dessert wine, gooseberry, old blonde sugar, Turkish delight, sour cream, old cardboard and a sweaty touch (even sweaty feet) silently creeping in when warming up but remaining very subtle. Fruity onset, very spritzy with lots of minerally, though not too harshly stinging carbonation, estery notes of fermenting apple and pear, gooseberry and yellow plum drizzled with passionfruit juice, smooth body, rounded and full; caramelly and brioche-bready maltiness under ongoing autumn fruit impressions and gently dried by sour cream-like lactic acidity, with the drying effect becoming stronger in the finish when pronounced woody tannins set in, paired with oxidized and even fortified wine (sweet sherry) effects and that typical vanilla-like oak wood scent. Some earthiness in the end, but generally remaining very focused and clean, with a fruity lactic sourness lingering behind, assuming an almost passionfruity and citric character in combination with a honeyish sugar residue. The woodiness meanwhile goes on an on. Lovely beer, apparently a blend of barrel-aged blonde ale so a kind of 'oud blond' rather than 'oud bruin' - think of Bavik's classic Petrus Aged Pale for comparison, but at lower strength; some of Alvinne's blonde sours also (strongly!) spring to mind (Cuvée Sofie, Phi etc.), which I would consider a compliment. Very elegant sour ale, in any case, no extravagant frills or additions here, just clean, sleek and 'honest'. Very good, much better than expected even - this Sosab brand, a side project of the already established Beer Society, is a Belgian newcomer to be reckoned with, it seems.
jefverstraete (7491) reviewed XII Flemish Red Ale from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Dark reddish brown colour, beige foam. Nose of balsamic vinegar, red fruit, wood. Notes of oak, some paint thinner, fruity and tart.
Icedwarf (4944) reviewed XII Flemish Red Ale from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bruin bier met schuim. Smaak is zoetzuur en licht fruitig met iets van bessen, wat kers en pruimen. Best goed.
Alengrin (11675) reviewed XII Flemish Red Ale from SOSAB 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
One of now three beers by a new microbrewery in West-Flanders, part of the Brew Society and located in the same spot but operating separately, specializing in the local beer style traditionally linked to the south of both the Flanders provinces: oud bruin, or Flemish sour ale as the Anglo-Saxons tend to say. The name 'SOSAB' is an acronym meaning Science Of Sour Ale Brewing. This XII is the actual, typical oud bruin in the range, namely a blend of young and old 'foederbier' further blended with young brown beer brewed especially for the occasion. Very thick and frothy, thickly plaster-like lacing, pale greyish-beige, irregular but dense and very stable head, initially collapsing with a loud fizzing sound but settling at about five millimeters eventually, for a long time; crystal clear caramel brown beer with ruddy-vermillion hue and lots of visible sparkling, remaining clear till the last drop so clearly filtered. Aroma of blackberry, freshly cut red apple, apple vinegar indeed, dusty attic, old oak furniture, autumn leaves, slight passionfruit, brown bread crust, cassis, blue plum, whiff of red wine vinegar. Sour and sweet onset, clearly 'cleaned' by the filtering and sweetened with dark sugar (not unexpectedly - Rodenbach, Duchesse de Bourgogne and other 'traditionals' have been doing this for decades too), but still unfolding enough fruitiness of sour cherry, plum and apple peel, cassis and blackberry with a faint dash of passionfruit; finely but fiercely tingling carbonation, supple body. Lactic sourness runs strong through the whole beer, with a fruity effect, but also drying, with a light amount of - appropriate - astringency; caramelly malt core, slick wheaty presence underneath, very faint metallic accent on the sides, with that candi-sugary sweetness persisting till the end, where it contrasts with the lactic sourness as well as with pronounced oak wood tannins. Light effects of dust and sweat appear retronasally, while hop bitterness, as is traditional in this style, remains very low and 'hidden' - it is, instead, that yoghurty sourness combined with tannic woodiness that provides the balance here. Lots of apple-, blackcurrant- and sour cherry-like fruitiness linger afterwards. Very traditionally executed: the classic Rodenbach, the epitome of this style, has spawned many an epigone since the eighties (when its popularity was on its peak), but since then, creative craft breweries like Alvinne and Verzet have basically reinvented oud bruin - making this one, being sweetened and filtered, a weird echo from the past, a bit of an anachronism even if you look at it that way. It does, however, deserve praise that the Brew Society managed to create such an archetypically tasting, twentieth-century style oud bruin - I would even prefer this over (classic) Rodenbach itself, if the latter is to be taken only in its current industrialized form, of course. Have an extra point for managing to brew a more than credible example of an essentially difficult style.