Herevana – #189 – Monk’s Café – Grand Cru

Another Humid and close Saturday late summer – so I’m having a Herevana beer, a Monk’s Café – Grand Cru, Flanders Red Sours are something I would gravitate to if it was on the bar list over many other styles. Same brewery that makes the Gulden Draak  I had last week.

Brouwerij Van Steenberge make the Monk’s Café Grand Cru in Ertvelde, East Flanders, Belgium 🇧🇪, and this is a Sour Flemish Ale – Flanders Red / Oud Bruin of 5.5% ABV. This is the big 750 bottle and is 6.2 standard drinks in NZ.

Another beer with a cork and cage to add to the theatre of it all, the cork slides out with no drama, releasing a lovely bouquet of rich fruity aroma.

A murky maddish red pour that results in a beer with a lovely just off white head of some substance and staying, the rich fruit aroma follows to the glass.

That’s really very fruity and rich to taste with a fullness and sweetness that makes over a light sour/bitterness that’s also there. The second glass from the warming bottle had much more head and a bigger aroma. Warming is obviously something that benefits here, as the overall profile seems lifted and bolder.

Whilst I am enjoying this I’m also not completely sold. I really enjoy the softness of mouthfeel, and that’s the problem, I wanted more bitterness/sourness and a little bite, and I think the problem is with me and not with the beer itself. I’m pretty sure that the Wilderness Russet hit the mark, and I’m sure I’ve had hallertau Flemish Red beer that made me swoon.

The Pdubyah-o-meter rates this as an 8 on the arbitrary number scale. It is a lot of goods things, a pleasing aroma, a deep red appearance, with fruity and sweets notes to taste but lack a bit on the sourness/bittereness that would have brought it forward and made it really something, in my opinion.

Music: Neko Case – Wild Creatures has my foot tapping along and incrementing the loud dial.

Herevana beers are those I drink at home, I’m not at some beer festival, like, for instance, Beervana, but am just in my kitchen, usually, dining room table, sometimes, or outside, occasionally, where I can take an average picture and write in real time about the beer that I’ve invested in, both in a monetary and emotional way.

Philip himself.

Monk’s Cafe Grand Cru is a blend of 3 year old aged and freshly brewed tripel ales. This blend is then aged for 6 months in Oak Casks. It is here that Monk’s Cage Grand Cru acquires its unique sour profile. Just before bottling, a high fermented lager is blended to reach an approachable ABV of 5.5%.

Brewers Notes

Sour Flemish Ale – Flanders Red / Oud Bruin

The Flanders Red Ale, also known as Flemish Red Ale and Belgian Sour Red Ale, is deep red/burgundy to reddish-brown colored, sour, fruity, red wine-like Belgian-style ale with interesting supportive malt flavors and fruit complexity. The dry finish and tannin makes it more wine-like than any other beer style. Similarly, the Oud Bruin, also know as Belgian Sour Brown Ale is a dark reddish-brown to brown, malty, fruity, aged, subtle-sour Belgian-style brown ale. A deeper malt character distinguishes the Oud Bruin from Flemish Red ale. The Oud Bruin is less acetic and maltier than a Flemish Red, and the fruity flavors are more malt-oriented while the Flemish Red have more of a fruity-tart profile.