Rodenbach Classic (Red) - Brouwerij Rodenbach N.V.

Naerhu

Japan

4.13/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Brownish red head on a huge red dark body.
Raspberry like aroma.
Raspberry flavor, on a roasted biscuit and carmel pastry with the slightest bit of chocolate. Dry and pleasing. It is really hard to believe that they have not used a significant amount of raspberry juice in brewing this. Nice acidity, but little bitterness. What bitterness there is seems more tanic, like wine tanins.

If I wanted a drink this fruity I would have a glass of wine. Gimme something with hops that bite and malt that greets me without and shyness.

Serving type: bottle

01-14-2004 15:24:08 | More by Naerhu

francisweizen

Australia

4.72/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

This flemish red ale is great. Bottles only go for around 1 Euro a pop as well. This pours out a nice pinkish/red colour with a small head of raspberry like foam. The aromas are very cherry-ish, lactic, slightly sour, and a bit sweet all at the same time. The taste is wonderfully fresh and creamy, with all of the flavors intermingling nicely. The mouthfeel is definately a little less creamy than it is on tap and this does hurt the drinkability a bit.

Please note that a recent 750 of this brew has a very funky metallic tastes to it...I'd stick with the little bottles, personally.

Pre-palm vintage, perhaps a 1993? This stuff is dark brown with a small off-white head. Aromas are of smoky malts, cherries, acidic funk, chocolate, and more. The taste is chocolate-like, with smoke, cherries, funk, and lambic-like acid all in the mix as well. The mouthfeel is a bit thinner thinner than usual, and the drinkability is still absolutely awesome. Wow this is so different than fresh, post-palm rodenbach. I wonder if the reciple changed? At 10 years old this stuff is starting to have the complexity of a Hardy's!

Serving type: bottle

12-19-2003 17:54:42 | More by francisweizen

skar

New York

4.38/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Served on-tap at the Blind Tiger, NYC 11/5/03 Belgian Beer Fest
This keg had been in Blind Tiger's cellar for over a year.

Appearance/Head: Deep mahogany color. Pretty clear and served with a good head.

Aroma: Sour cherries. Rather floral with a little oak in the background.

Taste: Red fruits with quite a bit of acidity for beer. Notes of red wine vinegar (or even balsamic vinegar), which just adds to the complexity of this brew. Most of the flavors are most winelike than beer.

Bottom line: Most BA's present thought the age of the keg detracted from the flavor of the beer. One former brewmaster thought it improved with the age. I thought the aging changed the beer a little but in a neutral manner. Although I prefer the Grand Cru and the Alexander, Rodenbach is a great example of what is right about Belgian beer. Refreshing, unique, and highly drinkable.

Serving type: on-tap

11-07-2003 13:58:18 | More by skar

putnam

Michigan

5/5  rDev +23.8%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

What is beer?
It is impossible to exaggerate this "beer's" greatness.
Served from a 1.5 L bottle by Marburg.
There is Impossible complexity divinely integrated.
There is sweetness in the form of baked breads, cakes, spiced cookies, sweet red and black cherries, raspberries.
The sweet elements are overlaid with nutshell bitterness, cocoa, corroded copper, jerky and raw and toasted spices.
It is dense. It is polished.
There is plenty of room for delicate floral and sweet herbal fragrances to emerge throughout.
This beer is like walking through a dimensional door into a fairy tale. Every element is absolutely durable and beautiful...
Forests of complexity. Recognition of long-lost perfection.
---
The next day I drank a young Bordeaux and found a lot of similarities to this beer. I think a lot of what this beer is about comes from the oak in the barrels.
---
A fresh sample delivered directly from Belgium on 6.1.2004 was a surprise. Tasted next to a Duchesse de Bourgogne, the young sample of Rodenbach appeared to open in the glass from a state of austere, minty herbal woodiness. But first - on the nose - it was very sour and gastric smelling. Seasoned oak, dried, oily cinnamon bark and Uttar Pradesh spices lurk in the background before surging as it warms and agitates in the glass. This process brings even more complexity over time. I feel this beer should be allowed to age for a minimum of two years based on my results from bottles that are 2-5 years old.
Thanks Alan.

Serving type: bottle

11-02-2003 16:31:47 | More by putnam

saltydog

New York

4.6/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

This was, amazingly enough, a bottle from 1988, served at Kroegske. Appearance: Mild head, bright dark red color, very clear. Aroma: very strong sourness, still enough malt to balance it out, with an incredibly smooth balance. Flavor: Tart and very mellow. Malty is subdued, and vinous flavors. Dinkability is dominated by tart finish. The sourness wonderfully masks the age; the only way you would have any idea how old it is would be that they don't make it this well anymore!

Serving type: bottle

10-21-2003 01:46:28 | More by saltydog

moon0

New York

4.35/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I received this as a gift, and clutched it tightly in my hands on a
rainy night, driving in the front seat of a dodgy Jamaican car service
Honda, whipping around the battered streets of Brooklyn, the windshield leaking all over me.

First off, the beer could use a proofreader as they tout "flour" hops
on their label. Pours a deep garnet color, abt for a jewel of a beer.
A wisp of fine bubbles settling together like floating islands seen
from the sky. It's tightly carbonated, evererscent like Champagne.
There's a tiny smattering of lace. It has an aroma of Spanish sherry with oak overtones. There's a nice depth of character throughout, balanced fruitiness, sourness and acidity. It finishes with the slightest hink of whiskey. The bottled version is very close to the fantastic tap version I was lucky enough to sample. A real classic.

Thanks to schoolteacher & biruchan.

Serving type: bottle

09-03-2003 20:17:26 | More by moon0

ALEBOY

Australia

3.95/5  rDev -2.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A truly lovely beer! It's a shame that I had tasted the Grand Cru before I tried this as it's kind of like a "Grand Cru lite". The oily taste of the "Grand Cru" isn't as noticeable and the mouthfeel is not as big. However the woody/cherry flavour is still there along with that wonderfull tartness. I will be drinking this again...... and again.

Serving type: bottle

08-01-2003 13:42:04 | More by ALEBOY

jcalabre

California

3.05/5  rDev -24.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Originally sampled on 19 April 2003. I am writing this review from my notes. This beer is a reddish brown color w/ a dirty white head. It has a slightly sour taste, but overall is well balanced. To me, sour ales are a bit of an acquired taste. This one is on the milder side. For this style, it's a middle of the road beer.

Serving type: bottle

06-27-2003 22:25:49 | More by jcalabre

dwarbi

New York

4.47/5  rDev +10.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Lovely looking beer - a nice dark brown. Murky. Almost didn't catch the head. Very thin and fleeting. No lacing at all. Smells of sour apples. Tasty. Very clean and very light. Hardly any aftertaste at all. A perfectly neat, clean finish. This beer is turning me on to the sour types!

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2003 17:45:11 | More by dwarbi

jreitman

California

4.6/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

A great beer. Nice sweet/sour flavor though not as much as their Grand Cru (understandably). Much more easily drinkable than the GC, but also less flavorful. Overall a very nice beer.

Serving type: bottle

05-19-2002 21:09:31 | More by jreitman

rastaman

United Kingdom (England)

3.88/5  rDev -4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Wierd, but good, chocolatey, sourish, refreshing and somehow works, very drinkable. I'd love to try it on tap.

Serving type: bottle

03-27-2002 09:20:26 | More by rastaman

hbis2gut

New Hampshire

4.78/5  rDev +18.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

An absolute classic. Get it on tap if ever you can.
Fantastic depth and character. This is a beer to give to the folks known for phrases such as "beer is beer".
Sweet and sour. Full bodied yet clean and drinkable. Tart faintly cherry nose. It's hard to believe this is brewed without fruit.

Serving type: bottle

03-07-2002 12:49:50 | More by hbis2gut