Top Tastings 2009
ABV: 10%
Origin: Roeselare, Oost Vlaanderen
Website: www.rodenbach.be
Rodenbach Vin de Céréale
Rodenbach of Roeselare is a Belgian beer icon, one of the key breweries celebrated by Michael Jackson back in the 1980s when he first introduced the country’s remarkable beer culture to the wider world. It’s renowned then as now for perpetuating the historic style of sour red East Flanders ale and the traditional technology behind it, notably the brewery’s 294 “foeders”, the Slavonian oak maturation vessels, some of them more than 150 years old, that host the microflora, including brettanomyces, responsible for the beer’s characterisitic acidity. Beer historians delight in this living connection to a western European brewing tradition of maturing “stale” beer for blending that also links to the tantalisingly near-lost history of British porter and old ale.
Rodenbach was founded in 1836 by an expatriate from Koblenz and remained in the same family for generations. Since 1998 it’s been owned by national brewery Palm, who despite the fears of beer lovers have proved relatively responsible custodians, recognising the uniqueness of Rodenbach’s products as its unique selling point.
In 2007 the brewery capitalised on its reputation with vintage dated Vin de Céréale (grain wine), a beer that clearly responds to both the US interest in barrel aged limited edition brews and the growing Belgian penchant for posh beers to serve with food. The standard Rodenbach is a blend of aged and new beers; Grand Cru is the pure aged beer and Vin de Céréale goes a step further in presenting a higher gravity product matured for three years in a specific vessel, number 132, in attractive paper-wrapped form.
The beer pours a clear amber with hardly any head, yielding a biscuity, oaky and corky aroma with notes of vanilla bread and wine and a pencilley perfume. The palate is acidic, winey and very complex, starting almost as tart as a lambic then sweetening up with cherry flavours. A tartish winy finish has more oak on the tongue. Overall this is a delicately flavoured beer which I found very moreish when I sampled it one quiet afternoon in the famous Kulminator specialist beer pub in Antwerpen, accompanied by an excellent portion of oudekaas and mustard.
Zie een videoclip van de Rodenbachse foeders van de TV-serie Tournée Générale hier / See a video clip of the Rodenbach vats from the TV series Tournée Générale here: http://video.canvas.be/rodenbach
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/rodenbach-vin-de-cereale/81890/
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