Monday, October 17, 2011

Day 82 (10/14/2011): Petrus Aged Pale by Brouwerij Bavik


I've seen this all over the place, but until recently I had no interest in sours, so it was completely lost on me. Now that I have caught the bug for them, I've been looking for affordable alternatives to Cantillon/Drie Fonteinen. How does this stack up?

You can smell this one right when it's poured. The dominant smells are vinegar and white wine, with some wood from the aging process and some light fruit. It's a little too much vinegar for my likings, but I have to remember that this is an our bruin and not a lambic. The taste introduces more balance than the smell, with a clean malt sweetness countering some of the mouth-puckering sourness. Again, the white grape taste is here, almost lending a champagne-like touch (if the champage was aged in wooden barrels). The taste is much nicer and more complex than I expected.

The tartness is delivered on a prickly, clean carbonated body that is really light and refreshing. You could drink this pretty quickly, but you would really lose out on the nuances of the flavor if  you did. This one really changes as it warms up, too. The sweetness emerges, calming a lot of the sour down.

Overall, not a bad buy at $3-4 a bottle. If you're new to the style or just don't want to shell out the money for something sour when you need a fix, you could do far worse. I will definitely be keeping this one in mind for the next time I'm in the mood. The vinegar might be a little bit too pronounced, but I can deal with it. I give Petrus Aged Pale by Brouwerij Bavik a B+.

Style: Flanders oud bruin
Beer Advocate: B+/A
Ratebeer: 96/68

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