Petrus Oud Bruin

Brewed By: Bavik-De Brabandere in Harelbeke, Belgium

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Oud Bruin, 5.5%

Reported IBUs: ?

Continuing with Sunday Funday....About Petrus: 

The Brewery Bavik (Brouwerij Bavik) was founded in 1894 by Adolphe De Brabandere. One of his sons, Joseph De Brabandere, brewed his first beer the same year the brewery was founded. Before 1950 the brewery's beer was sold primarily to cafes and individuals, but post-1950 the beer has been sold to merchants. The Bavik Brewery is a family run business, and is one of the largest independent breweries in Belgium. For more info, check out Bavik's history page.

The Petrus Oud Bruin/Old Brown/Old Dark is an Oud Bruin aged for 24 months in oak barrels. Punching in at 5.5%, this beer is both readily available and relatively cheap.

Petrus Oud Bruin

The cork came out cleanly, and the beer pours into a nice dark, ruby red body, with three fingers of khaki/tan head. The head is soapy and foamy. When you shine a bright light onto this beer, you can see that the body is swampy brown, hazy, and murky. It looks like chocolate milk. The lacing is good, and head retention is also good.

The aroma features tons of vanilla, cherry coke, cherry, oak, and wood. I'm also getting apples, pears, apple slaw salad, grape and apple juice, and a hint of spice.

Unfortunately, the taste doesn't follow through with the aroma...I'm mostly getting wheat and apples, one-dimensional apple/raisin/wheat sweetness, some hints of cola, and very little tartness if any. A touch of wood no real oak.

There's some oxidation here...with the wheat-apple punch being the dominant and only force driving this cola-esque beer. This is super disappointing for a Belgian Ale. It's very drinkable at 5.5%, but where is the flavor? The light to medium-light body is driven by lively carbonation, with one-dimensional palate depth and complexity. You get carbonated wheat/apples up front; apples, wheat and raisins in the middle; apples and wheat in the back with a hint of wood and some faded oak and oxidation. Very little sour, very little tart, very little flavor or character. Booo.

Rating: Below-Average (2.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Strong Below-Average. This beer is below average for the style. Unlike the Petrus Aged Pale Ale which featured delicious and gripping tartness, this beer just falls flat in delivering that cherry-cola-oak goodness. The oxidation contributes some paper/cardboard, which doesn't work against the flavorless backdrop. I would not pick this up again, even at the price of 10 dollars a 750ml. There are much better Oud Bruins out there. I bought this to pair with leftover pulled pork sandwiches, but I'll probably butt chug the rest and switch to a more flavorful beer.

Random Thought: The Bears ain't got no run defense. 

Petrus Aged Pale

Brewed By: Bavik-De Brabandere in Harelbeke, Belgium

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2013 (2012 bottle?)

Style/ABV: Sour/Wild Ale/Flanders Red or Oud Bruin, 7.3%

Reported IBUs: ?

I've been meaning to get to this beer for a while, so here we go. About Petrus: 

The Brewery Bavik (Brouwerij Bavik) was founded in 1894 by Adolphe De Brabandere. One of his sons, Joseph De Brabandere, brewed his first beer the same year the brewery was founded. Before 1950 the brewery's beer was sold primarily to cafes and individuals, but post-1950 the beer has been sold to merchants. The Bavik Brewery is a family run business, and is one of the largest independent breweries in Belgium. For more info, check out Bavik's history page.

The Petrus Aged Pale is a "dry hopped, oak aged, sour ale." Aged in one of the fifteen 25,000L oak vessels in the Petrus Aging Cellar, this beer is brewed and then aged in the aforementioned vessels for between 20 to 30 months. This beer was originally used as a base beer for other blends, but apparently, the late Michael Jackson (beer writer) visited the brewery and suggested they sell this commercially. The rest is beer history. 

Petrus Aged Pale

The beer pours a hazy orange color, with two fingers of lightly off-white head. In bright light the beer looks less hazy, and takes on a vibrant gold/orange vibe that glows like radioactive water. There's some lazy carbonation, and a centimeter of sustaining, funky white head. You get lacing and all that.

Like the body, the aroma is kind of average. There's some musty oak funk, old attic, woody tannins and assertive vinegar, red wine vinegar, subtle white wine, and ghostly notes of chocolate/grape/apples that are vague and hard to place.

You get a lot of malt body in this, and this is surprisingly smooth. This isn't overly sour, with mild tartness. On the other hand, this beer isn't very sweet either. I appreciate that, a lot. It seems like this style veers towards overly sour or overly sweet. You get a lot of oaky tannin and subtle malt kisses up front, which eventually turns into that red apple cider vinegar punch. There's some hops in the mix as well, and the back end lays big citrus and apples on you. The finish is slightly bitter of all things, with lingering malt and a hint of...grain? The sourness comes in two waves: up front with the oak and tannin, and towards the mid to back palate with some citrus.

This hides the 7.3% very well, and is drinkable. It's not too sour, or too sweet, and is smoothed out by nice carbonation. I'd call it light-to-medium bodied. Palate depth is good, complexity is low. This is a very standard Flanders Red-esque beer, and doesn't really run away with anything. Tart, warhead sour up front, with big oak tannin, cherries, apple cider vinegar, and malt kisses; that roles into some hops, apples, pineapple, citrus, orange, more vinegar and sour; the back end is lingering sour, lingering malt, hint of bitter/grain. I can feel this one crushing my teeth.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Light Above-Average...practically average, if not for the restrained levels of sweetness. This has an incredible balance, with pronounced oak, wood tannin, malt presence, sour kick, and sugars that are held in check. This has a some subtle nuances as well, and seems to hold up to short-term aging. I can easily recommend this, especially as an entry-level sour. This beer is cheap, it's available, and it's pretty damn tasty. You owe it to yourself to pair this beer with strong cheeses, grilled meats, fondue, or anything along those lines. This beer is much better than the standard Petrus offerings.  

Random Thought: My goal this week is to decompress a bit...we'll see how that goes. 

New Belgium La Folie (Lips of Faith - 2013)

Brewed By: New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado

Purchased: 22oz bomber from Binny's in Illinois; 2013

Style/ABV: American Sour Ale/Flanders Red, 6.0%

Reported IBUs: 18

Tonight's beer has been reviewed many times over, and it's a straight up Divine Brew with the exception of its price. But I feel compelled to jot down my thoughts on the 2013 version of La Folie anyway. Hate the playa, I guess.

I haven't really talked much about Flanders Red Ales, though I have talked about the Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin. The most known Flanders Red is probably Rodenbach's Grand Cru, which is straight up sex (and on my to-review list). I've had it before, I'll have it again...it's good.

Rather than waxing on about Flanders Reds, I'm going to link to this solid article: Flanders Red and Brown. In short, the Flanders Red Ale originated has roots in Belgium and England, where old and young beer were blended together to compensate for any sourness/acidity in aged beer. The sourness/acidity came from aging beer in wooden casks, where the beer picked up tannins and flavor from the wood, and was also liable to wild organisms (Brettanomyces, Acetobacter, etc.). 

Nowadays, fermentation is a bit more controlled, as breweries like Rodenbach intentionally introduce organisms and control the stages/duration of fermentation. This style of beer is often aged for anywhere from 18 months to 3 years, and is often blended with part old and part young beer. These beers feature complex aromas, and have intense fruit, sour, and acidic characters. With that said, I digress. About New Belgium:

New Belgium is based out of Fort Collins, and opened in 1991 when founder Jeff Lebesch took his home-brewing into the commercial world. For reference, New Belgium is the thrid-largest craft brewery in the United States. You can read more about New Belgium if you check out their website.

As I mentioned, La Folie is kind of a big deal. This beer dates back to 2004, and was conceived with Peter Bouckaert from the Rodenbach brewery. The La Folie is wood-conditioned, aged in French Oak barrels, and is then blended to perfection. At one point in time, La Folie was corked with live bugs and all (I think 2009 was the last year). As it currently stands, the beer is now pasteurized, bottle-conditioned with house yeast, and capped on a bottling line. A lot of people have complained about this, but Lauren Salazar does a great Q&A explaining why this was done HERE. The long story short is that pasteurizing the beer "locks in" the ideal blend, and capping the beer has allowed New Belgium to increase production for this beer. The La Folie clocks in at 6.0%, packs 18 IBUs, and is brewed with Target hops, and Pale, Munich, Carpils, C-80, and Chocolate malts. Let's glass this up and see how the 2013 La Folie stacks up.

La Folie 2013

This one pours a hazy, cola-brown color, with a finger's worth of rapidly dissolving brown head. When held to bright light, the beer takes on an amazing reddish-brown/auburn color, with a ring of head clinging to the side of the glass. There is visible carbonation in this, and it looks quite effervescent.

Let's talk about the aroma on this. There's a lot of stuff going on here, and it's all fantastic. Up front I'm getting big malty cherries, cherry cola, wood, and vanilla. Behind the soda shop goodness is some serious watermelon, red apple vinegar, apples, fruit skin, and some citrus. There's some must as well, with elusive chocolate and spice. Finally, the soda shop goodness you get up front, mixed with the must, kicks your nose: I'm getting Brett funk, horse blanket, band-aid, and butcher shop. It all comes and goes, and you could just smell this all day.

I'm starting off a bit cooler, and will see how this fares as it warms. Even on the cool side, this is very sour up front, with sour watermelon, Black Cherry Warheads, apple cider vinegar, a hint of acetone, granny smith apples, and tons of citrus. There's wood on the back, and elusive chocolate/vanilla abound in the aftertaste. As I walked away from this, I was getting big raspberry and jam on the aftertaste. As this warms up, you get more apple vinegar, and more wood. I'm also picking up mild Brett funk.

This beer is as described: mouth puckering. I don't know if it's thirst quenching. This is dry as hell on the finish. You get nice acidity up front, immediately followed by sourness. The sourness maintains until the dry finish. The mouthfeel is medium-full, with light carbonation that is obviously hindered by the sour. Palate depth is great for the style...complexity is high, but you feel like it could go even higher. Sour-acid up front with citrus, lemon, watermelon, Black Cherry Warheads; mid-palate rolls into more sour citrus, apple, wood, vanilla, hints of malt; the back is fading sour, lingering citrus, wood, dry. 

Rating: Divine Brew 

I gotta go with a Light Divine Brew on this. As I feel this destroying my teeth, I can only help but think this is a winner. This is sour, bold, complex, and yada yada yada. You now have herpes. The only downside is a bomber of this is between 15-17 dollars, which is expensive. At least compared to Rodenbach's Grand Cru. This is maybe the best New Belgium beer, and certainly a shining example of mainstream American Sours. Food pairings: aggressive cheeses, meats, and chocolate. Or, just drink solo. This is worth checking out, especially if you're looking for a solid beer that kicks up the sour. The sour is strong, and the flavors follow close behind.

Random Thought: Evidently "La Folie" translates to this is madness or some shit. Cool story, 300. 

Bourgogne des Flandres Brune/Bruin

Brewed By: Timmermans [John Martin (brouwerij)] in Dilbeek-Itterbeek, Belgium

Purchased: 1 Pint, 9.36 Fl. Oz (750ml) bottle at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Flanders Oud Bruin (blended with Lambic?), 5.2% 

Reported IBUs: ?

There's not a lot of info out there on tonight's brewery, which is Timmermans brewery/Anthony Martin. According to their website, the brewery was founded in 1909 by British brew master, John Martin. Since then, Timmermans has been making a variety of beers. However, it also appears that the Timmermans Brewery dates back to 1702 (over 300 years), when the Timmermans started brewing Gueuze Lambics under the brewery name of "Brasserie de la Taupe." Whatever. 

Tonight's beer is an Oud Bruin. According to the Bourgogne des Flandres Brune page, this beer is blended at the "legendary Timmermans brewery," which is apparently the oldest lambic brewery in the world. This beer is described as going through a process known as "lambic infusion," where the best lambics are blended with a top-fermented brown ale. This beer is matured in oak barrels. So I guess this beer might not be a straight up Oud Bruin, and might be a blend of Oud Bruin with Lambic? Eh? 

Bourgogne des Flandres

In low light, this beer pours a dark brown/plum/raisin color, with 2-finger's worth of foamy/soapy tan, soda-colored head. Head retention is surprisingly good on this...with about a pinky's worth of soapy/creamy foam hanging around. In bright light, this beer is a swapy orange color, with a ton of tiny bubbles streaming upwards. This is very effervescent. The head still has a really nice reddish-brown color in bright light.

This almost smells like a Dubbel that crashed into a Bretty brown ale. I'm getting brown sugar, worn leather/band-aid, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and other spices, and some big candied/perfumey dark fruits; raisin, plums, apples, other stone fruits. There is a hint of vinegar and tart/sour, but it's very subtle and mild. It's really fucking sweet...like cherry cola. Maybe a touch of oak/wood?

There is virtually no sour or funk in this, with assertive cherry cola sweetness just blasting your palate. You get cherry cola, sweet sugary caramel, sugary vanilla, and maybe a dash of wood. The finish sort of dries out with some wood, and maybe some elusive spices dance around in this, but this is one-note, and it plays that note hard. This sort of reminds me of the very underwhelming Petrus Dubbel.

Before I pile on the mounds of hatorade, it is worth noting that this beer is likely a blend of an Oud Bruin style ale with a fruity Lambic. I swear I'm getting cherries in here...and they are okay. As I continue to drink this, I'm getting some apples and cherry skins, and hints of tartness. The whole thing has a very rich, chewy mouthfeel, and it's quite thick and smooth. There's some lingering buttery/diacetyl on the finish. Low complexity, good palate depth, lower carbonation and a thicker mouthfeel than I was expecting...this is medium in terms of mouthfeel, and drinks okay for 5.2%. And by "okay," I mean really fucking sweet. Up front is cherry cola, sugary vanilla, sugary caramel; this rolls into a dash of spice, a dash of wood, more sugary stuff; the back end is lingering everything, maybe an elusive flash of hops, more cherry, more wood...not very dry.

Rating: Average 

I'm feeling a light Average on this. This is a one-trick pony. With that said, I bet this would taste great with a scoop of ice cream in it, or if you blended it with a Stout. Hmm...it's way too pricey to justify purchasing again (imo), at around 13-17 for a 750ml bottle. Fuck that. You could pair this with a red sauce...I'm tasting a meatball sub from Subway, and this would go great with that. But meh. I'd pass on this for now.

Random Thought: I feel a cold coming on. FML. Sleep time.

Goose Island Madame Rose

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company (owned by AB InBev) in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 22oz bomber bought at Jewel-Osco in Chicago, IL; 2012 (bottled 7/31/12)

Style/ABV: Flanders Oud Bruin/American Sour Ale, 7.1% 

Reported IBUs: 25

Tonight I'm looking at Goose Island's Madame Rose. This beer is a "Brown Ale aged in French oak Cabernet Sauvignon barrels with the addition of Michigan cherries and heavily inoculated with Brettanomyces." Goose Island suggests giving this beer to Bordeaux enthusiasts, and beer drinkers fond of Belgian Kriek and Flanders Brown Ales. This beer is sort of like a Flanders Brown, but not really. Anyway, about Goose Island:

Goose Island is a Chicago-based brewery that began as a brewpub on Clybourn, which opened on May 1988. The actual brewery opened on 1995, and is located on the Southwest side of Chicago. The second brewpub, located in Wrigleyville by the Chicago Cubs, was opened in 1999. On March 28, 2011, Goose Island sold 58% of the brewery to Anheuser-Busch. The remaining 42% of the brewery is supposed to be acquired by A-B InBev in the future, and there has been much discussion about the brewery's takeover. On November 16th, founder and CEO, John Hall, announced he would be leaving Goose Island. On January 1st, 2012, Anheuser-Busch "veteran" Andy Goeler will take over Goose Island. Additionally, around the same time as John Hall's departure, resident barrel-program leader John Laffler also announced his departure from Goose Island. There have been many changes regarding Goose Island...so we will see what the future has in store for Goose Island. 

Since this beer is sort of Flanders Brown/Oud Bruin-inspired (with that Kriek thing), I'll go ahead and jot down what I've found on Oud Bruins. Flanders Brown Ales/Flemish Brown Ales/Oud Bruin/Old Brown Ales is a Flemish style of beer indigenous to East Flanders, which dates back to the 1600s. The Dutch name, "Oud Bruin/Old Brown," refers to the long brewing/aging process, which can take up to a year, plus additional time spent in secondary fermentation. The beer can also be bottle aged for extended periods of time. The extended brewing/aging allows the beer to pick up natural/wild yeast, which develop the sour characteristics typical to this style. This beer is typically not aged in oak (unlike the Flanders Red Ale); this beer is usually aged in stainless steel vessels. Traditionally/typically, the wild yeasts Saccharomyces, Lactobacillus, and Acetobacter all contribute to this style's flavor. This beer can also be brewed with a sour mash to help develop the sour character.

According to The Beer Connoisseur, because the Oud Bruin is often aged in stainless steel rather than oak, the brewing process is more controlled (since stainless steel doesn't harbor live bacteria, and the souring yeasts often come from controlled sources). As such, Oud Bruins may be used as base beers for fruit Lambics (like Krieks). You can consult the style guidelines, but overall, the Flanders Brown Ale is less acetic, and maltier than a Flanders Red, and the fruit flavors are balanced with the malt.

All things considered, I don't think the Madame Rose is quite a straight up Flanders Brown. Goose Island mentions Belgian Kriek when they describe this beer. Belgian Kriek is a style of beer where Lambic is fermented with cherries. The Madame Rose is a "Belgian style brown ale," fermented with wild yeast, and aged on cherries in wine barrels. It seems a lot like an Oud Bruin, aged on cherries (like a Kriek), with a bit of an American twist. Clocking in at 7.1% ABV, and packing 25 IBUs, this beer is brewed with Fuggle hops; and 2-row, caramel, wheat, dark chocolate, and victory malts. This beer is bottle conditioned, and will develop in the bottle for up to 5 years (and maybe longer?). Suggested food pairings for this beer include red meats, rich chocolate desserts, and aged cheddar. 

Goose Island Madame Rose

This one pours out a brown/purple color that is very cola-esque. I barely kicked up a pinky's worth of struggling, bubbly, brown head. The head has settled into a funky, murky, cauldron effect...it's like the beer version of the designs on a cappuccino. Bright light highlights the swampy/murky and brown/unfiltered body of this beer. The head is ivory/tan, and you can see a lot of carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles.

The aroma here is really nice, and I'm glad I've been on a bit of a sour/wild/Brett kick lately. This beer has some nice underlying Brett notes, with some band-aid and worn leather. I'm also getting sour cherries, sour, a dash of apple cider vinegar, and a ton of wood/Cabernet, and maybe a dash of woody oak. Other aromas include apples, berries, must, a hint of acetone. The dominant aromas are sour cherries, Brett, and huge Cabernet/wine/wood. This one definitely leans towards sour on the aroma (at this point in time).

Even in the eight months since I've last had this, this has changed towards more sour, with just a hint of sour candy ala Warhead/Sour Patch Kids. Overall though, it's more tart, with some apple cider vinegar, acetic Cabernet, and nice malt and sweet cherries to smooth things out. This is finishing uber dry. I'm getting wood, wine, and cherry skin/tart up front. There's some must, and worn leather in here, along with a ton of cherries. Cherry skin, meaty cherries, and a flash of cherry pie filling. You get some caramel/toffee/bread malt sugars in here balancing everything out, but after the hint of sweet cherries, this veers towards tart again and finishes dry.

This is very drinkable, even refreshing, and the 7.1% is absolutely non-existent in this. The mouthfeel is medium to medium-full, and this has lots of tartness, with flashes of sour, and big acetic Cabernet/oak/wood. There is some sweetness abound as well, but it all finishes super dry. Palate depth is good, and complexity is good. This has some nice potential to age. Up front is fruity cherries, cherry skin, hints of sour candy; this rolls into malts and leather; the back end is trailing malt and sweetness with a fade to dry finish.

Rating: Above-Average

I gotta go with a Strong Above-Average on this. This would be a great Cabernet substitute, and the oak/wood/cherry thing would go great with red meats. I would love to pair this with some flank steak, filet mignon, or even a medium-rare burger with some aggressive cheese. The only caveat to this beer is the availability. I won't even complain about the price, which ranges from 18 to 25 bucks a bottle, depending on if you hit up Binny's vs. the mom and pop shops. I stumbled upon this at Jewel...and paid around 20 dollars a bottle. For something aged in wine barrels on cherries, the price seems about right. I'd trade for this or seek it out. I reserve the right to revisit this and re-rate this. 8 months ago, this was a light Above-Average. In a year or two? Who knows.

Random Thought: Another week, another snow storm. We are supposed to get pounded with 4 to 8+ inches of snow tomorrow! Woo! During rush hour too. That's good and bad...it's good in that I will likely open a wintery beer. I do want to move forward to Spring, however.