Bourgogne des Flandres
Brewery Bourgogne Des Flandres

11.2oz brown bottle. Date stamp on label is 'Produced on: 08/21/2025'.
Clear, brownish red colored body. Thin beige colored head when poured, and this settles as an incomplete cap and full ring. Left behind are short lacing strings.
Aroma of mostly sweet fruit, a caramel base note from the brown ale, and a hint of hay funk.
Taste is sweet, with a definite bit of tartness and fruit skin bitterness. The sweet fruit dominates initially but fades a bit as the caramel from the brown ale emerges. Late and lasting there is some fruit skin bitterness. Oak brings woodiness and vanilla brings sweetness. The fruit flavors are more in the plum, cherry, and apricot realm. The aftertaste gets more woody and bitter, but some fruit sweetness remains as a balance buffer.
More than medium mouthfeel. Very slight stickiness. Drier finish, with a tannin residual. Noticeable fizziness with each. Good carbonation with some foam following the body down to the bottom of the glass.
Interesting intertwining of the base brown ale with the wild fermented Lambic. Slow sipping to savor the progression of flavors.

Interesting.
This seems like another Anthony Martin campaign to keep a Belgian tradition alive... or at least a family brewery that was influential in its past. The tradition is blending a bruin with a lambic. The family is the Van Houtryve brewing dynasty whose last brewery closed in 1957. And another tradition is having a brewery in the centre of Bruges.

Bourgogne Des Flandres Looks appetising in the pour, but loses its activity before the brew is gone. Its Smells are of a malty bruin and some fruit beer, in this case a lambic. Tastes are well balanced, but not particularly distinguished; say, not as a good as a good lambic is. Not quite medium-mouthed, but refreshing.

330 ml served cold into a pint glass. Best before 01/07/2026. LCBO purchase

Appearance - Rich auburn color A small half finger of light tan head is poured and fizzles out quickly with only a small foamy collar left to linger.

Smell - Subdued nose, some light fruitiness with dark berries and maybe currants, with a touch of sourness.

Taste - Fairly sweet with kiss of berries and currants again. Near bubblegum sweetness on the backburner. Small sour note, but watery with not much else going on.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, spritzy initially but then flat and watery. The low sourness makes this probably a bit more drinkable especially for non BA's.

Overall - Not bad, just not close with other highly esteemed Flanders ales. Watery and Thin.

Copenhagen 10/2 2018. 33 cl bottle from Ølhandleren in Hørning. What looks like the City hall of Brügge on the label.

Pours clear dark brown with a strong red hue and a bubbly off-white head. Settles as thin patchy layer of foam. No lacing.

Aroma is kind of thin. Sharp, sour and acidic. Light whiff of basement. Gentle sweetness in the background.

Strong carbonation and watery palate.

Flavor is lightly sweet with stronger sourness. Quite fresh. Aftertaste is short and sour. Fades pretty quickly in semi dry finish.

Fresh and easily drinkable sour red. No lasting impression.

 

On tap, in a good looking Bourgogne des Flandres glass, at the brewery in Bruges, Belgium.

Appearance - Deep ruby red color. Great clarity. Nice one-finger head that turned into a thin vail of foam floating on top of the beer. This is one handsome beer! The color alone is worth the price of admission.

Nose - Both sweet and tart at the same time. I would have rated the smell a bit higher but the aroma is faint.

Taste - Slightly sweet. A little bit sour. A touch fruity (cherries?). A very faint hop zing on the backend. Mild but very pleasant.

Mouth - Super smooth. Almost creamy.

Overall - This is a wonderful beer. Yes, the flavors are subtle but it's so easy to drink and so easy to enjoy. My American palate wouldn't mind if they turned the volume up a bit but I suppose that would be missing the point. These people put a lot of effort into this beer (research it). The end product is unique and tasty. Enjoy it for what it is.

 

Look: Pours a completely translucent, mahogany red with a two finger beige head of foam that doesn't lace the glass.

Aroma: Tamarind, candied apple, treacle, green pears, raisin and fig. Very pleasant.

Taste: Wow. This is quite different but absolutely delicious. It's a little sour at first, but only on the first sip as your palate adjusts. It drinks like a tawny port wine or sherry, it's a little tart at first but the acidity complements the other flavors in the ale perfectly.

The flavor is subtle, highly drinkable but very complex...
In no particular order ; I get rich nots of baked apple pie, candied raisins, sugarplums, treacle, tamarind, pears, tart fig wine, a little bit of banana bread, some notes of dark red cherry, incredibly soft vanilla, and a very subtle oaky, wooden undertone.

Feel: Soft and almost flat (not actually flat but very low carbonation). Sweet / tart / savory.

Overall: Highly enjoyable, probably not everyone's cup of tea however. No clue how old my bottle was unfortunately.

Pleasant drink, I don't know how representative this beer is of the style though. Poured from a 330 ml bottle into a flute glass, this beer features a muddy brown color with lots of reddish highlights. The tan head is bubbly and long lasting enough with minimal lacing. Aroma and taste feature maltiness with subtle cherry flavoring and mild sourness. Nothing really stands out other than the bready malt. Mouthfeel is moderately rich and smooth, except for the touch of sourness. Nicely carbonated and not overly sweet. I enjoyed it but don't see it as that faithful to the style

Dark garnett body with brown tinting, tan cap. Smell is that oak sourness as that signature belgian way with cherry, but not much else. Taste actually quite pleasant with full cherry flowers and bright oak being sweeter more than sour. Reminds me of le subite morte's cherry beers. Feel is playfully tart and decently acidic, sugar accumulate on the palate with some of the froth, not as deep for the style. Early spring would be ideal here

 

 

(330 ml bottle, produced on 05/04/2022; purchased single at State Line last week... poured into my St. Bernardus chalice, similar to the glass shown on the BdF site)

L: clear burgundy liquid, head fitting perfectly into the glass up to the lip; thick foam... think, messy cap persists, and it does lace all over

S: raspberry jelly bean, faint lactic tinge, slight touch of wood, more fruit leather as the foam recedes; mellow intensity, not suggesting any grand flavors

T: malty blast up front, fruity edge shifting to mildly brown-bready, roasty finish; notably dry aftertaste with some soft molasses candy note... I think the 'lower' abv and hushed sourness results in a reduction of the expression of undercurrent flavor, and an almost watered-down quality, but makes it more drinkable to a wider audience

F: plush-bodied and foam-fringed, with a soothing degree of levity and dryness... fine to drink on its own, but its delicate bitter, dry-nutty (tannic, nut-skin) twinge would help provide contrast and a cutting action against oily, fatty dishes

O: kind of a tame 'Flanders red', more a brown ale with a pleasing degree of sour bruin blended in (not so much 'lambic', unless one's speaking of sweetened, fruited versions)... it's good, and I would get one on draft in a pub, but I'll pass on another bottle (2327)

 

 

 

Its very dark red body can seem opaquely brown at full pour under a moderately thick and flat khaki foam head.

Much softer, smoother and sweeter than I imagined, it exhibits bing cherry with a touch of buttery crust and a fluidly light body under that fat ass head. Perhaps a hint or two of char comes up in the swallow.

 

Bourgogne Des Flandres Brewery "Bourgogne des Flandres"
11.2 fl. oz. brown glass bottle "produced on: 05/04/2022 10:18" and sampled on 05/23/2023
$19.99/4-pk @ Total Wine & More, Claymont, DE

Notes via stream of consciousness: This is an unusual beer, and I don't mean the beer itself. The label reads "Brewed and bottled for: Anthony Martin". I can only assume that's some kind of ownership thing that might be required by labeling laws. It also reads "MALT BEVERAGE WITH NATURAL FLAVOR" which is certainly not traditional. I thought that this was brewed and then blended with lambic from Brasserie Timmermans. It's a lightly hazy deep brown with ruby highlights beneath a tall head of tan foam. I don't see anything at the bottom of the bottle so I'm going to assume that it would be clearer from a carefully poured, longstanding bottle. The aroma is both malty and fruity. It's bready, and subtly chocolatey and toasty. The fruitiness is reminiscent of cherries, plums, and orange. On to the taste... it's very much the same. It's more fruity than malty but both components are there. It's lightly oaky and there's a suble hint of vanilla that I'll assume is coming from barrel aging. The fruitiness adds in some berries and red wine, and there's a light touch of spicy phenols from the yeast that helps to balance it and give it more complexity. It's not that bitter at all, although there is some, nor is it really that acidic being just lightly tart. That chocolate note keeps coming back to me in the malt which is nice. In the mouth it's medium bodied with a gentle caress on the tongue from a moderate, fine-bubbled carbonation. The head held up nicely and the lacing is great. It's charming and unusual, and quite interesting due to its complexity and sweet and then lightly tart character. It's certainly not the best Flander's red ale out there but it's worth checking out.
Review #8,630