Flanders Red Ale

ABV 4.6-6.5% · IBU 10-25 · SRM 10-17 · Serve 50-55F · Glass Stemmed goblet · Extras oak, blending

Identify

Deep red, running from burgundy to reddish brown, and usually bright rather than hazy. The head is white to very pale tan and does not last long. Hold it against a light and the red is unmistakable. Nothing else in this module looks like it. Sour, but with fruit sitting right next to the acid. Black cherry, plum, red currant and orange, then a note that reads as balsamic vinegar. There is a soft, toasty malt underneath, some wood, and a drying grip on your gums from the oak.

Place

West Flanders, in the north west corner of Belgium. Rodenbach in Roeselare, founded in 1821, is the reference. Eugene Rodenbach brought the habit of long ageing in wood back from England, where he had been brewing porter.

Cause

A foeder is a wooden vessel large enough to walk into, standing upright, holding anything from 120 to 650 hectolitres. Beer goes in, the brewery leaves it alone for one to two years, and what comes out is not what went in. Build a red malt bill. Vienna and Munich malts plus caramel malt give the colour and the toasty base.

Confused with

Oud Bruin, its close neighbour, which is browner, maltier and less sharply fruity. Gueuze, which is pale, funky and bone dry rather than red and fruity. A fruited kettle sour, which arrives at fruit flavour by adding fruit rather than by waiting two years.

Numbers

The field mark that settles it is the colour combined with the fruit. A deep red beer that tastes of black cherry and plum, and is also clearly sour, is this style and very little else. The second mark is a sensation rather than a flavour. Your gums feel slightly dried and gripped, the way they do after strong tea.

Will you like it, Order and Try

Sour cherries, cherry jam, or a good black cherry soda. That flavour is right there in the glass. Balsamic vinegar on food, or a sweet and sour sauce. The same combination of sweetness and sharpness. Light red wine that you drink slightly cool, such as a young Burgundy or a Beaujolais.

Pair, Judge, Myth and Remember

Delicate white fish, plain salads, and very light food generally. This beer has a strong flavour and will simply cover them. Heavily chocolate desserts also clash, because roasted bitterness and sharp acidity work against each other. A good one balances three things at once: sourness, dark fruit and a soft toasty malt.