Family Sour Beer Style Flanders Red Ale
Country Belgium ABV 6.0%
Producer Palm
Price $$$$ Packaging 25.4oz/750ml bottle
Characteristics Malty, strong, sour, unusual

Overview Rodenbach has been in operation since 1821, though barrel-aging— the hallmark of their famous sour beers—didn’t start for another sixty years. The remarkable complexity of their Grand Cru is compounded by a relatively low alcohol content.

Flavors and aromas “Insanely complex” wrote one taster, and notes consisted of long lists like “vinegar, molasses, leather...tart, tangy, drying, sweet, fruity.” Somewhere in the oak barrel room at Rodenbach, someone is doing something right. In a nutshell, apple cider vinegar flavors sing harmonies with multilayered malt and just enough sweetness to take the edge off the acidic character. We weren’t perfectly unanimous; the sole voice of dissent in our group characterized it as full of “unripe pear, unripe lemon, unripe persimmon.”