Monday, 2 April 2012

REVIEW #89: Vichtenaar (Brouwerij Verhaeghe Vichte)

Pours a crystal clear ruby red with a long-staying beige head. Cream soda, musk and sour sweets on the nose. Very sweet with a thin-to-medium bodied oily texture. Sweet woody sugar notes come out first with liquorice and aniseed followed by fruity esters; cherries and blueberries. A moderate sour note lurks in the background throughout. In the finish a slight alcohol warmth presents itself and the sweet vanilla ice cream and milky character (probably vanillins and lactones from the oak lagering) leaves a lasting impression. Being a Flemish Brown Ale (or Oud Bruin) Vichtenaar is creamier and has a more clement sourness than its sister beer Duchesse de Bourgogne (review #8), a Flemish Red Ale.

Vichtenaar undergoes 2 bouts of fermentation, first in the fermentation vat and secondly in a conditioning vessel after racking. It then undergoes a tertiary fermentation in tall oak barrels for a whopping 8 months. These vessels vary in capacity between 5000L to 25,000L. More information on Oud Bruins can be found in review #9 and #46.
  • MALTS: ? 
  • HOPS: NOBLE
  • IBU: low
  • ABV: 5.1%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...