Oud Beersel - Framboise

Oud Beersel - Framboise

Ok i know that we have seen this symbol and wonder hrmmm sours Oud Beersel with that black castle label and archaic beer bottle label.  Most people will want to take a pass on this for the new and improved wild ales from America or want to hunt down the rare of the rare lambics of Belgium.  I stare at this bottle and know that this brewery has been pumping out beer before my grandparents where born.  The brewery seems to have been built around the early 1900's and has been passed down to many family members.  The beer quality of this company has always been a main staple of the original styles of lambic and krieks to me and am excited to try the framboise offering from them.

Appearance - When poured into a glass this happened.

Super carbonation!!!  I will say this poured out wildly and some made it onto the floor because of the huge rush of foam that came out of the bottle.  This bottle was sitting in my fridge for 4 days before i opened it and upright so i would like to warn people that this fresh might become a gusher. 

Back to the actual color of this framboise it is magnificent from the dark purple base to its almost white/pink foam that comes around the glass when it finally settles down.  Every pour i made this has foamed up and had to cover the top of my glass to make sure this beer didn't foam off over the top.

Smell - Raspberries, Oak barrell funk (dirt, ground & fresh soil), Red gummy flavored candies.  Smell is subtle and keeps in the glass but when close up it is a maze of complex smells.

Taste - YAHhhh Ok it comes out with a subtle taste of raspberries and follows up with the watery farmhouse funk like a saison which was brewed in an oak barrell.  The sweetness which you expect from the raspberries is taken away from a slight bitter aftertaste of raspberries which haven't had time to mature but the unsweetened flavor has kept.  The dryness of this reminds me of champagne but better because of the framboise styles i have seen in the USA today it seems like they are pumped with sugar.  This dry style framboise is a hit in the park of what i want to drink on a nice warm day watching a baseball game in the park while eating cheese. 

Mouthfeel - Like a champagne on how this is overly carbonated and tastes dry when you drink it down.  Compared to most sours and lambics i feel this has a great amount of carbonation and is where it needs to be at compared to some aged lambics which come flat.

Overall - Great framboise in a sense that it is not overly sweet and actually not sweet at all other than the part it has a hint of raspberries which to me correlates to me a mouthfull of happiness.  I would love to get more bottles of this and since I was able to find this one i would definitely want to try and cellar a few of these to see if the residual sweetness from the raspberries will come out more dry or actually make this more of a sour beer.  Many other notable framboise i have tried are Cantillon which is on the super sour spectrum of things to the Lindemans which tastes like raspberry Koolaid you would want to get a date drunk with who has no clue about craft beer.  This has fallen more on the side of the sour side and in a blind tasting I would say this would impress any sour beer nerd fan.