Sunday, May 4, 2008

Kasteel Rouge

WOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This one is a bit of a celebration after winning the Deadwood Derby. I tried this at the Worldwide tasting a few months back, and it is now available on a regular basis.

This one pours a dark red/pink. The head is an off pink, with a thick, one inch head. The retention is decent, leaving a nice foam cap. However, there is little to no lacing.

The smell is cherry, cherry, cherry. Cherry juice, cherry flesh, cherry everything!! There is some sweetness present, but not as much as you might expect with that much fruit in the nose. This really doesn't smell like beer. I am definitely in the mood for this. Haha, I have a homemade chocolate chip cookie to pair with this.

CHERRIES!!!! The flavor is cherry after cherry. There is a pleasant balance struck here between tart qualities and the underlying sweetness. I really could see serving this in place of a sparkling wine as a celebratory drink. Great with sweets, and I could honestly see this working well with a main course as well. The alcohol is not present in the least, which is impressive at 8%. This one hits the spot.

The mouth feel is slightly viscous, and pleasantly tingly. This avoids the sweet trap that many beers of this style can fall into. 93/100. It might just be the timing, but this beer is wonderful

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

This makes me sad to look at the Mort Subite Kriek that is sitting here next to me. :(

Jealous.

Anonymous said...

I tried the Kasteel Rouge for the first time last night. I would have to agree with the article. It's a great beer that is easy on the palet and goes down very smooth. Thde robust fruit smells and flavors make this a great pairing with sweets and went great with my t-bone steak. I would recommend it to anyone to try and I promise it will leave you wanting more.