Zoetzuur Flemish Ale - De Proefbrouwerij (bvba Andelot)

yelterdow

New Jersey

4.53/5  rDev +14.7%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

From the vaults of the Rare Beer Tour compliments of Michael Jackson. Although this beer is classified in the "retired" category, there are still a few of these around as of December 2005.

I'm tasting this on my 35th birthday, and I look forward to reviewing it.

Served in a Fin Du Monde Belgian tasting tulip at just over fridge temperature. The bottle reads 7% alcohol, not 8.5% as this page suggests.

Appearance- A picture perfect display of color and structure. The beer pours a fantastically clear Flemish red with brown highlights, and the four finger crown billows even better than Rodenbach... and that's saying something. The lacing is sporadic, but it's still clingy and persistent.

Smell- Wonderfully fragrant, and nose-puckeringly good. This pushes the envelope almost to the Lambic style, with a bold farmy funkiness and horseblanket character that I love so much. As the beer approaches cellar temperature, an underlying sweetness integrates with the sour horsey notes. Fantastic.

Taste- Outstanding delivery of sour cherries, barnyard funk, and overall lip-smacking goodness that rivals Rodenbach Classic... again, the difference is the more prominent notes of horseblanket. Lambic lovers, eat your heart out... if you can find this, buy it.

Mouthfeel/Drinkability- Sharp but rolling in the mouth, the texture is of the finest carbonation and boosts the sweet and sour character of the beer. Even with the beefed up ABV (7% vs. Rodenbach's 5.1%), this drinks so easy and quenches thirst better than almost anything I've ever had. A most enjoyable and worthwhile beer.

P.S. I suggest taking care not to disturb the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle, as I have swirled in the last 2 oz. at the end. Much better without the sludge.

Serving type: bottle

12-29-2005 04:34:31 | More by yelterdow

Goldorak

Quebec (Canada)

3.73/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Appearance: Dark amber brew, with a thin layer of miniscule bubbles woven together to form the head.

Smell: A sweeter shade of horseblanket, it was caramel/candi sugar sweet and reminded me of a Faro.

Taste: Lots of caramel again in the taste, some red fruits as well, with an interesting balance of sweet and sour mnemonic of New Glarus Belgian red. The low carbonation brings out the sweetened malt that bursted with cherries. Very low alcohol. May be a little too cloying for some, I enjoyed it.

Serving type: bottle

12-26-2005 16:00:37 | More by Goldorak

RBorsato

Virginia

4.58/5  rDev +15.9%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

Golden copperish red with a nice tan to light tannish brown head, nice active carbonation and some lace. Lightly sour black cherry fruity aromas with a nice touch of musty, earthy, malt character. Sour fruity dark cherry flavors dominate with a light funky Brett finish and a bit of mustiness. Medium-light bodied.

Nicely surprised with it's fruitiness and very light Brett character .. almost a Black Cherry Lambic but not quite as "sparkling".

Per bottle: 7% ABV

Per MJ notes: Crafted in 11-hectolitre batches exclusively for the Michael Jackson Rare Beer Club by the Andelot Proefbrouwerij of Lochristi, Belgium.

Malt: 2-Row Munich, Pilsner, and Cara malt
Hops: Tomahawk & East Kent Goldings
IBU’s: 21
Flavoring: Sweet-and-Sour Black Cherry Juice
Yeast: Mixed Fermentation of Saccharomyces & Brettanomyces. Lactobacillus is naturally produced, fermenting the sugars in the juice.
Original Gravity: 1072 (18 Plato)
Alcohol Volume: 8.5% ABV
Alcohol Weight: 6.7% ABV

(750 ml / 25.4 oz. tall straight brown champagne style bottle, corked, and caged)

Serving type: bottle

09-01-2005 16:17:15 | More by RBorsato

Rastacouere

Quebec (Canada)

3.9/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Dirty red-brown. Long lasting off-white to light tan cover. Intense brettanomyces nose, explosive cherries, atomic woodiness. Very big and directly to the point aroma. Sweaty, horsey, leafy. This has all the school elements of a good funky flemish sour. On the palate, the brett is as dominating, but the integration is not as efficient. Initially, tart cherries, strawberries and the likes have claims over the earthiness and genuinely evolve into a drying stone-like dryness full of green grapes, but then it hits a wall and every flavor escapes reality. At the same time than the short-flavored nature kicks in, those prickly big bubbles do a last effort to taunt you and expands into a big foam that has nothing worth keeping in your mouth any longer. Solid beer just because it’s a flemish sour, but just above average compared to other contenders in terms of palate. Spectacular beefy aroma on the other hand.

Serving type: bottle

01-24-2005 18:13:40 | More by Rastacouere

Gueuzedude

Arizona

4.43/5  rDev +12.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Enticing aromas of cherries and tropical fruit waft from my glass as I pour this beer. The beer is a lightly hazy amber color and is topped by a frothy tan to light amber head. Ooh, as I go in for a deeper sniff, I get notes of funk to go along with the fruity notes. There is the characteristic Brett signature with notes of sweaty horse blanket, musty leather. I was not expecting so much funkiness in this beer, but I am quite happy that it is here.

The taste is lightly tart up front with soft cherry notes. There is lots of fairly substantial funk here as well, I get notes of sharp urea, old cat pee, chewy musty almost moldy leather. There is a definite astringency in the finish that seems to be derived from the microbiota that were used to ferment this beer. The sourness reminds me of tart cherries, lemon, and perhaps a hint of grapefruit. This is not as hard, and tart as I would prefer from my Sour beers, but at least the sweetness is in check. The sweetness is definitely here but it does not overwhelm in anyway, it just accentuates the fruitiness, and helps to balance the tartness. The cherry notes that are present in this beer are characteristic of Brettanomyces Lambicus strain, it is quite interesting in its expressive presence.

This beer is totally enjoyable, and it actually is much more intense on the Brett end than the classic Rodenbach Grand Cru, if it had the tartness, and more of the balsamic notes, it would perhaps rival it even, but alas it does not so it falls a little short. I am a sucker for funky, sour beers, and No doubt, I would love to have a case of this in my cellar, unfortunately I only picked 1 bottle of this up, and I don't think that I will be able to replenish it any time soon.

Serving type: bottle

01-20-2005 02:44:44 | More by Gueuzedude

marburg

Michigan

4.55/5  rDev +15.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

My wife and I picked apples a few weeks ago, and being late in the season with so much rain, the apples were particularly good. Some of the varieties were so deep in color they were a regal burgandy that bordered on pushing into indigo. The apples knocked from the branches were turning this sickly shade of brown. And that's *exactly* the color of this beer -- a deeply muddied red.

Tart, chopped Michigan cherries and soggy sweet wood in the nose. Subtle hints of chocolate and an obvious sour-ish "brettanomyces" kick.

The flavors begin with a certain sweetness -- fruity, plum-like, and a bit thin up front. A drier sourness encompasses the mid-palate, which is efficiently swept away by a lasting finish driven by the flavor of chomped leaves and pine needles. Remarkably farmhouse-like in its narrowly focused bitterness.

A well-rounded, all-encompassing Flemish ale. While in a natural sort of spirit, it's a far cry from the lactic nature of even Rodenbach Grand Cru and an even further stretch to compare this to its sweetened cousins from other brewers. The more restrained acidity is a bit disappointing to me personally, but this is an intriguing beer that's well worth wading through -- it really grew on me through the end of the bottle. I've got a few more bottles, so we'll see what I think of it over time. But for now, chalk this up as a fun, somewhat unconventional success.

Serving type: bottle

11-19-2004 02:59:08 | More by marburg