This brew is an exceptional Flemish red-brown ale that owes its fresh and sour taste and complex fruitiness to its partial maturation in wooden oak foeders.
Poured into a shaker glass we see a brown colour tinged with red in the glass. A big tan coloured head fades leaving a combination of small and bigger bubbles poking through. Just a rim of head around the glass. Plenty of carbonation fizz like pouring champagne initially then it completely settles.
Initial aroma is oak, fermentation, sour cherry, vinegar, Belgian yeast, pear, raisins, and light red like Pinot Noir. First sip is refreshing. Restrained sourness intermixed with manageable carbonation and the fizz of fermented fruit like cherry, hints of raisin, and pear. Obvious use of Brett underlying the well balanced but ever-present oak. Body is moderate yet light on the palate. We have had a couple of immature Pinot noir’s in our time which remind us of this. Alc vol is 6% here and almost unnoticeable given the fruity, sour, drying effect on the palate. There is the acidic fruit presence on the back of the throat as we get half way through and this leaves a slight booze burn. We note the use of barley malt and the sweetness doesn’t overpower. Plenty of patchy lacing down the glass as we near the end. As the brew warms up, we get a reminder of kombucha and find it all very tasty and again refreshingly drinkable and thirst quenching. Great balance and a nice change from dank hoppy beers we have been murdering lately.