Kasteel Rouge wows USA Today

Kasteel Rouge, a cherry beer brewed in Ingelmunster in West Flanders has wowed USA Today’s Beer Man column. “The brewery is coy about how the beer is made,” says the column’s writer, Todd Haefer. “Information on the bottle says ‘Belgian ale with cherries and cherry juice added’. However, the brewery’s website specifically says, ‘Kasteel Rouge is a blend of Kasteel Donker and cherry liqueur used in the confectionary world.’ I’m inclined to believe the latter as the beer seemed to have something of the rich, oily body that fine liqueurs have and one-of-a-kind flavours that the regular Belgian cherry beers don’t have. The basic Donker beer is described as creamy with chocolate, banana, liquorice and raisin flavours. The fruit flavour overshadowed most of these, with a dark cherry flavour and brown sugar notes ending with a buttery, rum-like finish. The cherry added a deep, dark red colour to the beer and the carbonation was solid without becoming spritzy. The sweetness in the 8 percent alcohol by volume beer was balanced by a slight tartness that prevented it from becoming candy-like. I had no problem wrapping my taste buds around the cherry liqueur content – there are plenty of excellent cherry lambics and other ales from Belgium, and none of them have the flavour profile of Rouge. Other ales in the Kasteel portfolio include a tripel, blond and Cuvee du Chateau, an 11 percent ABV, 10-year aged version of Donker. The Van Honsebrouck company also makes St Louis Premium Kriek Lambic, Brigand blond ale and Bacchus Old Flemish Brown.”