Brewery: Rodenbach
Location: Roeselare (Belgium)
ABV: 6.0%
Version: Bottled
Source: Selfridges

I knew I was going to need some help making sense of my reaction to this one, so I turned to the Internet to see what I could find out about Rodenbach Grand Cru, before I started on these notes.

It turns out that Rodenbach Grand Cru is a Belgian red ale which, according to Wikipedia, is a style that is brewed in such a way as to enhance the sourness and acidity of the beer. I’ve not had a particularly good track record with the more specialist Belgian beers, or indeed, sour beers in general, and unfortunately that proved to be the case here as well.

The sourness was just far too intense for my malt-loving palate – overwhelmingly reminiscent of white wine vinegar – and I’m afraid I didn’t get past the first couple of sips before giving up (seems I’m not alone: Andrew Stroehlein had a similar experience). Then again, maybe the situation wasn’t helped by my saving the Grand Cru for the top of a mini-session that started with a couple of bottles of Hobgoblin, which is pretty far down the other end of the flavour profile spectrum.

There’s more information on the Grand Cru’s production process at Michael Jackson‘s website and if you’re tempted to give this one a go yourself, it’s stocked by BeerMerchants.com or the Manchester branch of Selfridges.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for the beer cupboard (and my credit card) with a number of new arrivals turning on up.

First off, here are are a few I picked up when Jo and I were over in Northern Ireland last week (more about that trip in another post, all being well):

The BrewDog Paradox Isle of Arran will be the fifth variety of their imperial stout that I’ve had the chance to try. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Thomas Hardy’s Ale from O’Hanlon’s and having read last week that production is to cease, I thought I’d better grab a bottle when I saw it. It’s been known to stay healthy in the bottle for 25 years, so I might leave this one to mature a while before I try it. The D. Carnegie & Co Stark-Porter just looked far too interesting to pass up on: brewed by Carlsberg in Sweden and with a best-before date of November 2017, I’m planning on letting this sit awhile as well. And then finally, I spotted a lone bottle of Sam Smith’s Yorkshire Stingo in an off-license in Saintfield. I had no idea what it was, but at 8.0% ABV it had to be interesting. Turns out it’s a new, limited edition beer that Smith’s are brewing to an 18th Century recipe.

The second selection I picked up in the central Manchester branch of Selfridge’s at the weekend. Scaldis claims to be “the Strongest Belgian Beer” and according to BelgianExperts.com “has a memorable warming quality”. At 12% ABV you’d expect some warming, certainly, although is it really the strongest in Belgium? I’d have to do some more research to confirm. Rodenbach Grand Cru is a 6% ABV Belgian Red (also sold be BeerMerchants.com) that’s matured for 24 months in wine casks. Sounds good. Old Skratch Amber Lager is the first Flying Dog beer I’ve seen on the shelves so I grabbed one of those. And then Lapin Kulta is a Finnish lager (actually a native of Lapland) which the guy on the counter said was worth trying. With the Old Skratch and BrewDog’s 77 Lager in the cupboard I can feel a lager round-up coming up.

And then today, yet another consignment from those fine fellows up at BrewDog:

I’ve had a few bottles of How to Disappear Completely now and seem to have developed something of a taste for ultra-hopped beers as a result, hence my acquisition of a couple of bottles of Hardcore IPA, the one BrewDog monster-IPA that I hadn’t gotten my hands on yet. But it’s the two unlabelled bottles in the middle there that were the real reason for this particular order: Rake Raspberry Imperial Stout. BrewDog Paradox Smokehead, plus a tonne of fresh raspberries? How could I resist?

Which leaves me with a beer cupboard looking something like this:

Looking forward to the next couple of weekends!