Flanders Red

Tasting session 14

Beer 1 Choices: Berliner Weisse, Fruit Lambic, Oud Bruin, Flanders Red Ale

Score: 0/1

Beer 1 things to look for:

Berliner Weisse: clean and heavy lactic acidity, bread dough

Fruit Lambic: wild/complex/funk/fruit

Oud Bruin: acid AND malt

Flanders Red Ale: acetic/clean

Notes:

The sample had some detectable toasty maltiness in the aroma on the palate, so I could eliminate Berliner Weisse and Fruit Lambic. The acidity was for sure in the Flanders Red/Oud Bruin family (fruity, bright, complex but not funky, and mildly acetic). As I kept evaluating, the rich toasty malt flavors remained heavy in the balance, so I picked Oud Bruin. 

This differentiation can be pretty tough- in Belgium these aren’t even classified as separate categories of beer. There’s lots of overlap between the two styles: both should have some level of acetic acidity, toasty malt, and fruity complexity. The big distinction is that, according to our guidelines, Flanders Red has a more “fruity-tart and acetic profile” than Oud Bruin, which usually has a “sweet-and-sour profile and aftertaste”. I don’t have access to any Oud Bruins where I live, so I’m excited to try one so I can have a better base of reference in the future. I suspect that the malt will present similarly in an Oud Bruin to that in this Flanders Red sample, except that it will be an even deeper richness and add much more sweetness to the overall balance of the beer.