"Echt Kriekenbier, (real cherry beer)" is as the name suggests a cherry beer that is manufactured with only the real fruit of cherries instead of with flavor enhancers or extracts of cherries. The fruit is sourced from the region around Sint-Truiden in Limburg (Belgium).
Unlike the most famous fruit beers is the basic beer of the "real cherry beer" not a Lambic but a West-Flemish red-brown ale aged in oak wood. About mid-July at the picking, the Northern cherries are brought in at the brewery and laid in on the base beer.
Because the taste of the cherry fruit varies from year to year and this according to the number of hours of sunshine or rain, the kriekenbier at its final composition is blended with cherry beer from the year before and two-year old cherry beer. This with the intention of becoming a more constant taste of the "real cherry beer" over the years. (Description provided by company)
Comments
Oh, so this is what sour beers are all about
Verhaeghe’s Echt Kriekenbier pours a deep but transparent red with lots of thick head retention. The nose is cherry with a bit of brown sugar. The flavor is definitely tart, but it's manageable. There's a nice sweetness that I'm guessing comes from the barrel aging up front that balances the tang from the cherries really well. A full body rounds out probably the best tasting sour beer I've ever had.