Rare Beer Club 6-Bottle Selections - April 2024

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Corsendonk Pater Dubbel

Brouwerij Corsendonk – Turnhaut, Belgium

[Belgian Abbey Dubbel Ale - 7.5% ABV]

Wheatwine Ale (RBC Exclusive)

The Priory of Corsendonk was founded in 1398 by the daughter of John III, Duke of Brabant in the Flemish town of Oud-Turnhaut, and the monks of this monastery brewed beer as was customary throughout Flanders and Europe in general. After the property was seized and sold off in the wake of the French Revolution, a new breath of life came to Oud-Turnhaut and its brewing tradition when Sir Henricus Keersmaekers founded a new brewery there in 1906, and he kept the abbey beer tradition alive until closing the brewery in 1953. Henricus' grandson, Jef Keersmaekers, revived the brand yet again in 1982 when he partnered with another family brewery, Brasserie du Bocq - founded by Martin Belot in 1858 - to brew the Corsendonk beer. Today, the Keersmaekers family has taken over the brewery from the sixth generation of the Belot family, producing all the Brasserie du Bocq brands alongside the Corsendonk beers. All their beers are bottle-conditioned, experiencing a secondary fermentation in the bottle to naturally carbonate the beer.

Corsendonk Pater Dubbel pours a deep amber to brown with a slight opaqueness, and a thick pillowy off-white to tan head. The aroma offers a full spectrum of classic Dubbel notes: toasty malt aromas, baking spices, dark fruits, brown sugar, caramel, medium roast coffee, and hints of licorice. The spice, fruit, and malt aromas are supported by floral yeast esters. The story continues on the palate with all the aromas woven together as tightly knit flavors including warmly toasted dark caramel malt, toasted bread, brown sugar, toffee, coffee beans, plump raisins, dark plums, and chewy figs, with subtle dates, red apples, and black cherries, plus a crescendo of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and cocoa. Corsendonk's Pater Abbey Dubbel has seen our shores before, but in smaller quantities year after year. The Rare Beer Club was able to obtain a significant percentage of the allocation of 750mL bottles for 2024, making it quite hard to find outside of the club.


Oude Kriek Vieille 2014 (RBC Exclusive)

Oud Beersel – Beersel, Belgium

[Vintage Oude Kriek - 6% ABV]

Wild #3

The historic Oud Beersel, located about six miles from the city center of Brussels, is one of the last remaining authentic lambic breweries in Belgium. The brewery first started way back in 1882, passing through multiple family generations, and is now currently run by Gert Christianens and his family. Today, the brewery is one of very few to still be employing spontaneous fermentation in this classic brewing region-maturing lambic for up to three years in barrels-which can in turn be blended to go into the brewery's classic Oude Geuze, as well as this month's world-class Kriek.

Oud Beersel's Oude Kriek Vieille is produced by authentic methods, with no added sugar, artificial flavors, or preservatives. Sour cherries are slowly integrated into the lambic during production, added at a rate of approximately 400 grams per litre (the most of its kind, per Oud Beersel), and the overall impact of the cherries in the sweet-tart final product is unmistakable. The brewery gives their Oude Kriek Vieille a 20-year best-by date, and this 2014 vintage is at the pinnacle of its flavor complexity. This kriek pours a bright, deeply colored ruby in our glasses, and there's an incredibly deep red fruitiness in the nose: roundly expressed cherry, alongside almonds and toasty oak. The aromatics land with plush fruit first, then ascendent, complex acidity behind; juicy and tart. Bold, well-developed acidity and a complex cherry roundness lead on the palate. There's core sweetness in tandem with brisk tartness, with plenty of complexity backing it up. A nice accompaniment of toasty vanilla and almonds, plus subtle oak tannins, provide further structure, and we found a touch of warming cinnamon, too. Loads to enjoy with this kriek, super easy to settle into, and beautifully developed at this point in its lengthy lifecycle. For this stellar 2014 vintage, only a handful of the final cases are left, available exclusively through the Rare Beer Club with no inventory available via further imports.


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