The red and brown ales from East and West Flanders in Belgium are closely related types of beer, aged for extended periods, and undergoing mixed fermentation with both Saccharomyces yeasts and other, wilder organisms. These, like the lambics from the area around Brussels, constitute one of the few surviving categories of traditional sour ales. Several brands have become known around the world, and in a time when many craft beer brewers and drinkers are in love with sour beers, these traditional Flemish ales have exerted a powerful influence on world brewing, particularly the craft beers of North America. Finally, a handful of Japanese craft breweries have also tried their hand at the style.
The primary difference between the Flemish red ale (Vlaams rood bruin) and the old brown (Vlaams oud bruin) is geographical: the reds are brewed in West Flanders, and the browns in East Flanders, particularly around the town of Oudenaarde. Among the dozen or so breweries making these styles, there tends to be a lot of variation, but in general we can say that while both styles use various dark and caramel malts in their brews, the browns tend to use more roasted malt, and thus exhibit a slightly darker color and richer flavor notes of chocolate or even coffee. Furthermore, red ales are more likely to undergo secondary fermentation in oak casks, or even huge oak foeders, whereas browns are typically re-fermented in steel tanks.
One characteristic shared by both styles is the use of beer that has been aged for many months or even several years, and that has undergone a mixed fermentation, with wild yeast and/or bacteria working on the beer after the ale yeast. This results in a tart, sour, or otherwise “funky” character. This aged beer is often blended with younger beer for packaging, both to give it a more balanced flavor and to carbonate it.
Rodenbach Brewery is almost certainly the best-known maker of Flemish red ales. Brewing started there in 1821 and continues today after a few recent changes in ownership. Though slightly difficult to visit in the town of Roeselare, the brewery tour here is one of the best in Belgium, with visitors able to enter the warehouse where Rodenbach ages in enormous oak foeders (see photo). All of their beers are based on the same red ale that matures in these foeders for two years or more. This beer develops a distinct sourness, with notes of apple, cherry, lactic acid, vanilla, acetic acid (vinegar), and caramel malt. Rodenbach Classic (5.2% ABV) is their entry-level brew, a blend of 25% aged beer with 75% young beer. It is thus somewhat sweet and simple, but the classic Rodenbach flavors do lurk in the background. Grand Cru (6%) is the flagship, with 67% aged ale and 33% fresh. It is bracingly tart, with more oak, vanilla, and cherry notes. The late beer guru Michael Jackson once called it “the most refreshing beer in the world”, which might still be true. Rodenbach Vintage is released once a year, featuring beer from the year’s best foeder, packaged unblended. This is where their stock ale really gets to shine. Rich, tart, and funky, Vintage displays deeper notes from the oak, with less sweetness to get in the way. These vary a bit from year to year and are really fun to try in a vertical tasting.
Rodenbach also produces two fruited versions of their red ale. Charactere Rouge is macerated on cherries, raspberries, and cranberries, while Rodenbach Alexander ages on sour cherries. Both of these beers feature bright, fresh fruit notes and tend to be rather sweet when young. With more time in the bottle, the sweetness declines and the character of the stock ale shines. I recommend them aged—for anything from two years to more than ten.
Also common in Japan are the red ales from Verhaeghe Brewery, a family-owned operation in Vichte. Duchesse de Bourgogne (6.2%) is their popular flagship. It pours a deep reddish brown, and has a sweet-and-sour character, with notes of cherry, apple vinegar, and caramel. It is quite a bit sweeter and richer than their Vichtenaar (5%), which is much harder to find outside of Belgium. This is lighter and more sour, a more traditional, slightly more austere representation of the style. Echt Kriekenbier (6.8%) is a blend of several different vintages of their red ale aged on cherries. Verhaeghe recently also released a Cherry Duchesse and a Chocolate Cherry Duchesse. I expected these to be somewhat gimmicky and artificial tasting, but was pleasantly surprised. Both use only whole cherries, which are added to the beer in the barrel. While the Chocolate Cherry was definitely dessert-like, it was far from cloying. Echt Krienkenbier is slightly dryer and more refreshing.
Other sour Flemish ales that are worth searching for include Petrus Aged Pale and Oud Bruin, Bourgogne Des Flanders, and Ichtegem’s Grand Cru, which is very oaky, sour, and funky, and quite a delight. De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva is also a type of aged red ale, a particularly rare and wonderful one that you should grab should you ever come across it. The same goes for the several variations on the style produced by the iconic West Flanders craft brewery, Struise. These will be decidedly harder to find, though some appear in bars in the Delirium chain.
The best-known old brown ales of East Flanders come from Leifmans. Though dating back several centuries, the brewery is now owned by Duvel-Moortgat, who has steadied the once floundering brand, while also coming out with toned-down versions aimed at the popular market. The latter include Fruitesse (3.8%), a very commercial beer that is driven far more by fruit juice than by aged beer. Still, it is easy to find and quite refreshing, if a bit too sweet. I can forgive Moortgat for that beer, as long as they continue making Goudenband (8%), Liefmans masterpiece. This is a deep brown beer that is rich in flavors of chocolate, yogurt, cherries, and caramel, with light vinegar notes. Not as sour as many of the red ales, it is aged in steel, not oak, but benefits from ambient yeast and bacteria in the brewery. This is another beer that can improve with age for years and years.
Liefmans makes two beers aged on cherries: Kriek-Brut (6%), bright red, slightly sweet, and nicely tart, and Gluhkriek (6.5%), which includes cinnamon, cloves, and star anise, and is meant to be drunk hot. Possibly quite shocking to anyone unfamiliar with hot beer, this is a real winter treat (it’s also nice chilled).
Like other styles of Belgian beer, Flemish red and brown ales have caught on around the world, with many particularly good versions being brewed in North America. One of the first, and best, is New Belgium La Folie, which is imported into Japan, albeit in limited quantities. La Folie was one of the first American sours, a Flanders brown aged for several years in large foeders made of French oak. It is quite sour indeed, with notes of green apple, cherry, oak, and vinegar. Other American interpretations that are sometimes seen in Japan include several from Cascade Brewing and The Bruery’s Oude Tart series.
Relatively easy to find are the yearly vintages of Abbaye de Saint Bon Chien (11%) from BFM (Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes) in Switzerland. These strong brown ales are aged in wine barrels, and although they do not associate with Flanders in their name, they show a clear influence. Each vintage is slightly different, but they are rich and sour, and dangerously drinkable. Grand Cru versions undergo maturation in specific rare wine or spirits casks.
Flemish-style, mixed-fermentation red and brown ales are still quite a rarity among Japanese craft brewers, but that seems slowly to be changing. Anglo-Japanese Brewing (AJB) in Nagano and Kakegawa Farm Brewing in Shizuoka have both come out with various versions of oak-aged brown ales that deserve attention. Kakegawa Farm brewer Aska Nishinaka is half Belgian, and has lived for many years in that country (see JBT48). He ages his old brown ale in Japanese whisky barrels on wild yeast. Variously released as “Japanese Whisky Barrel Aged Oud Bruin” and “Vlaams Oud Bruin” (6%), we tried a 2019 version. It was deep brown, with a spicy nose giving hints of balsamic vinegar, cherry, apple, and savory steak sauce. Oak came through on the palate, with caramel malt, vanilla, black vinegar, and lots of umami. It was a complex brew that seems to differ slightly with each new release.
Tom Livesey at AJB has made a number of barrel-aged Flanders-inspired ales, beginning with the Barrel Reserve Series of 2016. The 2021 release Touge Goe (7.5%), an oud bruin, is in a way the culmination of those early efforts. Brewed with Kyoto Brewing in 2019, the beer matured for two years in both wine and whiskey barrels, undergoing a secondary fermentation by various strains of bacteria. The result is a lovely dark brown beer with cherries, chocolate, caramel, and balsamic vinegar on the nose. It is deeply malty; tart and sweet, fruity and acidic, and simply delicious. AJB has oak foeders as well, so I can’t help but wonder when we might see an oud bruin coming out of one of those.
Amid the craze over kettle sours, Flanders reds and browns may seem like a fussy throwback to the old ways of doing things. In a way, they are. Their deep, complex flavors come not from added fruits and spices—although these are sometimes used as well—but from secondary fermentation by a variety of yeast and bacteria: Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and others. Flavor also comes from the oak they mature in, sometimes further influenced by the previous contents of those casks or foeders. These are beers that take time, space, and materials, and are in many ways the antithesis of the quickly-made kettle sour. The result is worth the effort, however, and now that some wonderful versions have finally been released by brewers in Japan, we hope to see others trying their hand at new interpretations of this classic style.