Rodenbach: Evolved (Belgium: Flemish Red: 6% ABV)
Visual: Dark black cherry red body with a thin gray dash of a head.
Nose: Very tart and sour. Vinegar touch. Tart cider. Tart black cherries. Tart pear perry. Slight yeast funk.
Body: Red cherries. Pear perry. Malt chocolate. Slight charcoal dust. Slight sherbety fizz. Touch of chalk. Green grapes. Red grape juice.
Finish: Pear perry. Red grapes. Charred oak. Burnt toast. Acidic. Watered down fig juice.
Conclusion: This is a lot more manageable than I expected. I was nervous before taking that first sip. I have a complicated relationship with the standard Rodenbach Grand Cru and this has had many more years than that had to change and evolve. I did fear an over sour monster was on the way to brutalise me.
Turns out that, while is is still tart and sour, this had a much more restrained touch of the vinegar like elements that were so evident in standard Grand Cru and made that so challenging to experience. This smoother take makes for a much easier to appreciate experience overall and lets a lot of the other notes shine through more easily.
There is a lot of tart cider and perry like notes which are new, but they are layered over a dark sour laced malt drink style at the base, that makes for a comparatively savoury base when combined with the charred notes. Between the two sides lots of dark red fruit roam.
The more restrained nature means it doesn’t have the almost holographic hallucinatory range of notes that comes out of the intense sourness of the Grand Cru, but you can appreciate what is there so much easier.
A distinguished Grand Cru in its old age.
Background: This is an interesting one, normal Rodenbach Grand Cru is aged 18 months in oak, this thing is aged 10 years in oak. Not bad priced either for something aged ten years. Grand Cru is a fairly intense beer in itself, so I just knew I had to try this one and see what it was like. I still need to try their Foederbier one day but that will probably need some country traveling from what I hear. This is another one grabbed from Independent Spirit. Was still on a kick for trying old punk bands I had missed at the time so went with Flipper: Album – Generic Flipper. That is some odd tunes but very cool.
