Oud Beersel Oude Kriek Vieille - Brouwerij Oud Beersel

beerguy101

California

4.25/5  rDev +1.7%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Red color, cloudy. Head is pinkish and medium. Aroma is wood, old basement mustiness, some fruit and some yeast. WOW Big sour kriek. Cherry flavor is sweet and sour and tart and fruity. Vinegary, woody and earthy. Complex taste. Sweet and sour flavors are well balanced. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and dry. Aftertaste is slightly bitter, with a lingering cherry tartness. Very nice beer. It nearly a crime that its not being made any more.

Serving type: bottle

06-26-2003 17:40:01 | More by beerguy101

goz

Massachusetts

3.58/5  rDev -14.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours a clear brilliant red, with a smallish pink head. Aroma is sweet, lot's of tart cherries, some other fruitiness, and a bit of the barnyard. Flavor is tart cherries, some slight other fruitiness, super sour, somewhat acidic. Body is medium, super dry ending.

Serving type: bottle

06-24-2003 08:21:04 | More by goz

marc77

California

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

Golden amber hue with excellent clarity when decanted off the sediment. Mountainous, pitted head slowly erodes into persistently frothy, muddled fluff. Waft of vibrantly tart, fresh, but prematurely picked cherries and red currants hit the nose at first. A superceding melange of cheesy old hops, pungent lactic notes and sweaty, enteric ammonification lend an impression of savory, mild blue cheese, which contrasts and offsets the initial brightly tart fruit well. Sharp, acetic tartness a notch shy of pucker inducing bathes the palate at first, then yields to rounder notes of oak aged, still vinegary, young balsamic. Damp, earthy mildew mid palate widens in an agreeably musty suggestions of rain soaked horse and wet cork. A vague grainy, wheat like presence surfaces late along with a resurgence of underripe fruit of a red grape like nature, only to be superceded by an enveloping, yet bone dry, dessicated hay impression. Very well attenuated, superbly crisp and soft on the palate. Finishes expectedly dry, yet complex and oddly lingering, with hints of porous flora laden oak and sour sop. A fabulously balanced, immensely quaffable, well crafted kriek. It has the depth of character of a fine gueuze, and although a kriek, cherry wasn't a dominant flavor component. The microbial community steals the show. Best before March 2022. It's young and will only continue to improve. Delicious!

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2003 18:29:56 | More by marc77

TXHops

Texas

4.35/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

6.5 % ABV

Since Oude Beersel is currently shut down, based on info provided by the esteemed TheLongBeachBum, I needed to make sure I got my hands on a bottle of the kriek while I was in Boston. This beer was clearly ready for me to review it, because before I even finished unwrapping the wire cage, the cork popped out and flew all the way to the other side of the room, after smashing into the ceiling. Oddly enough, the beer didn’t gush at all—just a Herculean pop. The strikingly beautiful hazy pink body coordinated dashingly with the light pink head of constantly-replenished foam. The tart aroma suggested brettanomyces and lactobacillus, as well as dirt, cranberries and leather: appetizing! Although the nose suggested that this was gonna be a sour beer (and I knew that going in as well) I was shocked, nay STUNNED by how sour this beer actually was. One sip forced my right eye to close entirely, while my left eye fought through tears to maintain a slit through which to stare in disbelief at the glass. The odd thing was, the beer didn’t start quite that sour. In fact, while the kriek was in the my mouth, I could taste tart fruit and sour Geueze, but I could also discern a hint of vanilla or oak. But as soon as I swallowed—SLAM! When the air touched the inside of my mouth and allowed the taste buds to think about what had happened to them, the reaction was quick and sudden. This beer literally took my breath away.

After a 10 minute reflective period that also served as an acclimation session for my palate, I was able to taste the fruit more clearly. The cherries really did take on sort of a cranberry character. I’ve never eaten a sour Belgian cherry, but I assume they don’t taste like Bings or Maraschinos ;). Still, the tartness is more reminiscent of the native swamp berry of the Northeastern US. The soft carbonation is very reminiscent of any other Belgian style beer (dubbel or tripel especially) and the licorice-like flavor that emerged late reminded me instantly of Orval. A bit of warmth resulted in very little dulling of Oude Kriek’s intensity. I was still shaking my head at the end of the bottle…

Serving type: bottle

05-30-2003 20:32:06 | More by TXHops

UncleJimbo

Massachusetts

4.22/5  rDev +1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Oude Kriek Vieille. 12.7 oz green bottle, corked. Best before 05.04.2022.

This lambic poured a clear, lite orange red color with creamy, fluffy, light pink foam and lively carbonation. The smell was vinous sour cherry with some citrus, biscuit, and a hint of yeast. A pleasant aroma. The taste was rather tart initially, but after a few drinks one gets used to it. The dominant flavors were cherries and musty grapes. A rather delicate flavor. The mouthfeel was sharp, crisp, and clean. The body was medium. There was a somewhat tart, lingering flavor. This was a nicely drinkable kriek lambic. It was definitely not overly sweet, but the tartness was refreshing.

I have stashed away a couple bottles of this to see how it tastes in a few (or twenty?) years.

Serving type: bottle

05-15-2003 22:20:02 | More by UncleJimbo

MJR

Missouri

4.47/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Appearance: Upon pouring this one, I didn't know if the head was ever going to shrink. It started out at around 90% of the glass and eventually fizzled (loudly!) down to a small ring around the side of the glass. The body is a clear, dull red that looks a lot like Kool-aid. There are tons of bubbles fighting their way to the surface, from the heavy carbonation.

Smell: Sour and musty as all hell, with a nice cherry undercurrent. The Brettanomyces character practically jumps out of the glass at you...

Taste: Sour, tart, musty, and acidic... In other words, fantastic! The characteristics brought on by the wild strain(s) of yeast(s) definitely take(s) center stage, but there's a nice cherry flavor underneath it all. It's not a sweet flavor, but more of the sharp, dry type. There's a hint of lemon in there too. This one actually reminds me a bit of Cantillon's Kriek, only it's not as assertive and aggressive. Very complex and delicious!

Mouthfeel: Nearly painfully acidic with a dry finish that caves your cheeks. Fairly thin in body with an extraordinary amount of carbonation. Mmmm...

Drinkability: As with all traditional lambics, this is where the ratings get interesting. If you enjoy these styles, the drinkability is top-notch. If not, trying one of these is a complete and utter shock to your system! Luckily, I love a good lambic, and this one is damn good.

Serving type: bottle

04-30-2003 11:17:16 | More by MJR

Longstaff

Massachusetts

4.1/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3

The aroma of this authentic Kreik makes my spine and teeth tingle with anticipation or is that just the tartness I know I'm going to experience? Great lambic aromas of horse blanket, hay, and other barnyard smells. Its deep pink/maroon body contrasts the light pink head. This is very dry, acidic, and tart. A slight cherry flavor is somewhat noticeable. But for me it was a little hard to drink since there was barely any sweetness to balance. Reminded me of the Cantillon Kreik I sampled at the brewery. Very nice, but I'm not quite there yet with my appreciation for the tartness of the authentic lambics.

Serving type: bottle

04-03-2003 08:24:57 | More by Longstaff

jreitman

California

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

Had at the Taste of Belgium event at Celtic Bayou in Redmond, WA... Nice cherry aroma and taste backed up by a surprisingly strong sourness. This is the kind of lambic beer I like. Some sugary sweetness, but this brew is mostly all about the sour cherry flavors. Quite good.

Serving type: bottle

02-09-2003 19:08:14 | More by jreitman

NeroFiddled

Pennsylvania

4.8/5  rDev +14.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

I've had so many sweet semi-lambics lately (ie. Lindemann's) that I was quite relieved when I popped the cork on this and could smell the tartness of the lambic immediately! It's been refrigerated upright for some time, and carefully poured, but the body is still quite hazy. I guess the high level of carbonation pulled it up as soon as the cork was released. The color is a reddish-orange-brown. The head is magnificent, however, with a glowing pink foam that continually holds a densely creamy 3/4" head. The aroma is blessedly sour - it even smells astringent (can it be? Or is that the hay/straw suggesting it to me?!) - and vinous with just a hint of the fruitiness below. The body is thin but the extremely fine & effervescent carbonation (which starts crisp) warms to give it a creaminess that helps it to appear fuller. A mouth-puckering lactic sourness welcomes you to this exquisite gem before warming to reveal all of the standard lambic qualities: woody with loads of oak and and a touch of pine, horseblanket, barn, sweat, leather, earthy, powdery, soapy... an amazing array of flavors. It's surprisingly bone-dry with the cherries lending only a very minor thread to the cloth; and appearing quite vinous, even more like grapes in the finish. An authentic kriek lambic! An astonishingly complex beer that is meant to be mulled over and enjoyed for a good part of the evening. Highly recommended to those who understand geuze and lambic!

Serving type: bottle

11-30-2002 17:58:20 | More by NeroFiddled

rastaman

United Kingdom (England)

4.43/5  rDev +6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Along with the Beersel Oude Gueuze, this is great for its style (in this case a fruit- cherry- lambic). Gets it spot on. Stinky barnyard nose (which i like) Earthy, dry, acidic, sour, grassy, refreshing and just the right amount of cherry flavour to keep you interested, and it ain't sweet which is good, world class kriek-lambic, a must try.

Serving type: bottle

08-23-2002 17:07:02 | More by rastaman

Jason

Massachusetts

4.43/5  rDev +6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Presentation: Green 37.5 cl bottle that is corked and caged, a best before date stamped on the back label.

Appearance: Semi aggressive carbonation foams up real nice with a faintly pinkish hue, hazed red looking liquid shows the champagne like carbonation well.

Smell: Snappy tartness is strong in the nose with hints of sour cherries, a bit musty and earthy from the yeast also in the aroma.

Taste: Full smack of tartness hits the palate hard, carbonation is unbelievably refreshing with a well textured crispness. Cheery flavours come through right after the wave of tartness starts to settle. Slight musty barn yard flavour peeks in for a brief moment with a powdery earthy yeast flavour. Alcohol is a touch warming in the back with subtle esters. An underlying grain flavour tells the taste buds that this is indeed a beer. Puckering tartness makes way for the dry finish.

Notes: Some like their fruit lambics sweet, this lambic is brewed with sugar but it seems virtually all of the sugars were fermented out leaving it tart and dry. This is the way I like my lambics.

Serving type: bottle

06-26-2002 10:06:48 | More by Jason