Oud Bruin

ABV 4-8% · IBU 20-25 · SRM 17-22 · Serve 50-55F · Glass Stemmed goblet · Extras blending

Identify

Dark reddish brown to plain brown, and clear rather than hazy. The head is ivory to light tan and holds reasonably well, better than a Flanders Red manages. Hold it to a light and you get brown with a red edge rather than red with a brown edge. Rich malt first, then dried fruit: raisins, prunes, figs, dates. Caramel and a touch of chocolate underneath. The sourness arrives late and mildly, more like the tang of a sweet and sour sauce than an attack. Medium to full body with no drying grip.

Place

East Flanders, and the town of Oudenaarde in particular. Liefmans is the reference brewery, with roots given as the sixteen hundreds. Oud bruin simply means old brown.

Cause

The colour is the obvious difference and the least important one. The decisions that matter are which microbes get invited and where the beer is kept while it ages. Build a dark malt bill. Pilsner malt with dark crystal malts, a colour malt, and often maize to keep the body from getting heavy.

Confused with

Flanders Red, its close neighbour, which is redder, sharper, fruitier and often oak aged. English Brown Ale, which is not sour at all. Dubbel, which has the same dried fruit and no acidity whatsoever.

Numbers

The field mark that settles it is sweetness arriving before the sourness. Malt, caramel and dried fruit land first, and the acidity turns up at the very end as a tang rather than a bite. The second mark is what your mouth does not do. There is no drying grip on your gums and no scrape.

Will you like it, Order and Try

Raisins, prunes, dates or a sticky dried fruit pudding. That fruit is the centre of the beer. Sweet and sour sauce, or a fruit chutney next to cheese. Same structure, same appeal. Balsamic vinegar on food, though you want much less of that note than a Flanders Red gives. Brown sugar, treacle or dark caramel flavours.

Pair, Judge, Myth and Remember

Delicate white fish and light salads vanish underneath it. Very bitter or heavily hopped food fights the acidity. Fresh citrus desserts also clash, because the beer is dried fruit rather than fresh fruit. A good one puts rich malt, dried fruit and a mild sourness in balance. The acidity should support the fruit rather than lead.