This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 86: March 27, 2015
Diary entry:
Ah, the start of a weekend.
A good workshop at work this morning, then I took the afternoon off. A return visit to the gym, and then back to Boxtel to relax a little.
It was pretty nice weather, with intermittent patches of sun, and a temperature of 12 C…I decided this was worthy of my first day to sit out on a patio and have a beer.
But, I also kept in mind the fact that I finished last night at 1997 unique check-ins on untappd, and wanted to be sure #2000 was special, so I allowed myself two unique beers on the patio before returning home for my special choice for Beer2k.
The Beer:
Name: Rodenbach Caractère Rouge
Style: Flanders Red Ale
Producer: Brouwerij Rodenbach
Alcohol content: 7.0%
Bottle size: 0.75l
Purchased from: De Hopduvel, Ghent, Belgium
From one of my favorite breweries in Belgium. The Rodenbach Caractere Rouge. A limited edition beer aged in Oak casks. Delicious!
Letting the label card tell the rest of the story:
Europe’s Best Fruit Flavoured Beer 2013
The exclusive RODENBACH Caractère Rouge, with an alcohol content of 7%, is the result of a 6-month maceration with fresh fruit (sour cherries, raspberries and cranberries) of a beer which matured in oak casks for 2 years. After its maceration, the beer is re-fermented in the bottle. RODENBACH Caractère Rouge is vinous with a very complex, fruity nose of raspberry and cherry combined with notes of wood and caramel. The undertone consists of an aroma of violets, leather and a hint of tobacco. Flavourwise this fruit beer has rather sour taste, but of an exceptionally pure nature. Its light, residual sugars balance out the triangle of sour, sweet and dry flavours. This dryness mainly stems from the cranberries, which lend the beer an exceptionally long and pure aftertaste. “This beer evokes the unique combinationof delicacy and power of a fresh Burgundy wine.”
RODENBACH Caractère Rouge can be enjoyed as an appetiser and pairs extremely well with crayfish, goose liver, beef, saddle of hare, venison, chocolate, pastry, red berries, and blue cheese.
