Cuvee-Brut
"This kriek is made with a completely different method than Kriek Lambic." - liefmans.be Dark reddish brown, slightly pink parfait foam rises to the rim of the glass and recedes slowly. In the light, the color is an attractive dark scarlet with bright clarity. Delicate Belgian lace rings the glass. Smells like barrel aged cherry kool-aid. Some slight complexity from the barrel, minimally funky, maximally artificial. Overly sweet with noticeable artificial sweetener in the taste. Chalky cherry vitamin tablets. Sweet cherry juice spiked with lacto and sweetener... bleh. Slight tartness, but not sour. Obviously sweetened, even more than Liefmans Kriekbier used to be. Cherry cough syrup, Ludens cough drops. Dry chalky aftertaste with soda carbonation. Drinks like soda, easily and numbingly sweet, just weird and cloying, absolutely one-dimensional. Basically nothing like the old Kriekbier that was blended with Goudenband, then again, Goudenband is nothing like it used to be either (currently backsweetened also). Waste of money... Here's hoping that Duvel will return to a "more traditional" product with less added sweetener (as they are fully capable of, see Kriekbier) with the Liefmans brands.