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The Photo:

Preamble:

So here we are, the last of the beers from www.beermerchants.com. This time it’s the Mort Subite Kriek, so without further ado, here’s what the tasting notes said:

Mort Subite Kriek is an easy drinking and soft, cherry-sweet, oaky, Extra Cherry Lambiek Fruit beer. Best served in a branded straight glass aat 6-8C. Good with meat balls and venison.

So the last beer, yes or no?. Unfortunately, it’s a no. A disappointing beer really and not one i’ll be buying again. (250ml Bottle, 4.5%).

So we’ve reached the end of our tour of Belgium in Fruit, however, i can at least reccommend many of the beers i have tried, all of which are available from www.beermerchants.com I can also confirm that the Mongozo Banana is available in Tesco, along with the Fruili Strawberry, Jacobins Kriek Max, Bocchus Kriek and Boccus Framboise. ASDA have the Lindemans Kriek and Framboise.

So if you’re interested, go forth and conquer, a basic Kriek is around £1.50-2 a bottle so it won’t break the bank to give it a go.

(Enjoy alcohol responsibly).

The Photo:

Preamble:

The final Framboise in the case, Lindemans. Now, i’ve actually had this before as it’s available in ASDA (along with the Kriek). But this is what the distributor had to say on the matter:

Lindemans Framboise is an easy drinking and smooth, tart, raspberry-sweet, Single Raspberry Lambiek Fruit Beer. Best served in a branded straight glass at 3-5C. Good with summer fruit pudding and sorbet.

On tasting this beer, i was relieved, my faith in raspberries has been restored. The beer is full tasting, fruity and refreshing with just the right amount of bite. Excellent flavour and drinkability. Recommended. (250ml Bottle, 2.5%, Availability: ASDA).

The Photo:

Preamble:

This beer joins us from a well known brewary – Lindemans. I’ve been drinking their Kriek for quite a while now, (you can get it in ASDA), and it’s been rather good. Based on my reaction to the Kriek, Framboise and the Pecheresse, i thought that this too would also be a nice beer. So, the tasting notes:

Lindemans Cassis is an easy drinking and soothing, fruity-tart, Single Cassis Lambiek Fruit beer. Best served in a branded straight glass at 3-5C. Good with confit of duck and salads.

On tasting this beer, i was sadly disappointed, it was like someone had spilled vimpto into my beer. While it was very sharp, there was little in the way of fruit flavour. So this is one Lindemans beer i won’t be buying again. That’s not to say you wouldn’t enjoy it, my housemate liked it more than i did, however, even he conceded that it wasn’t his favourite. (250ml Bottle, 3.5%)

I’d orginally confused this beer with Creme-de-Cassis which is a liqueur of the same flavour and should ideally be mixed with Champagne to form a Kir Royale.

Ok, so it’s got nothing to do with tech, but meh, i like beer?

Earlier in the year i was introduced to Lindemans Kriek – Kriek meaning cherry. This is, surprisingly, a type of beer. You can buy it in ASDA for around £1.50 a bottle -  everyone should give it a go. Lindemans is a brewery in Belgium, now, the Flemish seem to have an obsession with fruit flavoured beers so after discovering this delightful drink, i decided to order a case of mixed fruit beers from www.beermerchants.com.

£40 and a few days later, a case turned up on my doorstep, from which i gleefully unpacked the beers. Included in the box was:

• Boon Framboise (Raspberry)
• Book Kriek (Cherry)
• Lindemans Cassis (Blackberry)
• Lindemans Framboos
• Lindemans Kriek
• Lindemans Pecheresse (Peach)
• Fruli Strawberry
• Floris Framboos
• Floris Apple
• Floris Ninkleberry
• Floris Passion
• Floris Mango
• Mongozo Banana
• Mongozo Coconut
• Mort Subite Kriek

I’ve only just started working my way through them but, the Lindemans Kriek i will leave out as that’s more or less a standard available on the high street.

So, the beers, first up:

Fruli Strawberry, the tasting notes had this to say (i’ve had this beer before from Tesco so i didn’t give it a full tasting analysis)

Fruli Strawberry is an easy drinking and smooth, strawberry-sweet, Extra Strawberry White Fruit beer. Best served in a branded straight glass at 3 – 5C, with the sediment. Good with light curry and ice cream.

Now as i understand it, there are two types of fruit beer, one is White Beer based and the other is Lambiek based. (I can’t be bothered investigating what these are so just look it up on Wikipedia). The Fruli has quite a strong sweet taste of strawberry’s and is quite a refreshing beer. Recommended. (250ml Bottle, 4.1%abv, available on the high-street – Tesco).

Mongozo Coconut, this was a new beer to me, although i’m sure it’s available in Tesco. The flavour did not inspire me with confidence hence why i decided to get it out of the way first. The tasting notes said this:

Mongozo Coconut is an easy drinking and creamy, coconut-sweet, Single White Fruit beer. Best served in a branded straight glass at 3-5C, with the sediment. Good with curry and ice cream.

On opening the bottle did not go well. Unfortunately, i had previously dropped it so it decided to squirt everywhere, i did manage to get most of it into the BeerMerchants branded glass that was sent with the case. I took one whiff of it and was immediately put off. However, in the name of science i decided to sacrifice myself to the cause. I took a good sip and unbelievably – it’s absolutely delicious, you can barely taste the coconut, it’s an extremely refined, smooth, creamy and refreshing drink, one i will definitely be buying again. Recommended. (330ml Bottle, 3.5%, Maybe available in Tesco).

Mongozo Banana, i think this is also available in Tesco, this is from the same Fair-Trade brewery as the Coconut one above and was also extremely deceptive. The tasting notes had this to say:

Mongozo Banana is an easy drinking and exotic, baked banana-sweet, Extra Banana White Fruit beer. Best served in a branded straight glass at 3-5C, with the sediment. Good with bread and butter putting and ice cream.

This one smelled even worse than the coconut – i felt physically sick, nevertheless, i soldiered on and took a sip – once again those crazy Belgians have done it produced a foul smelling, deliciously tasty beer. It’s very refreshing and creamy – i really do not like bananas but i do like this beer. Recommended. (330ml Bottle, 4.5%, Maybe available in Tesco)

Floris Mango – i had saved some of the nicer sounding flavours for later, this one was included. I wish i hadn’t. But before i slate it, here’s the tasting notes from the distributor:-

Floris Mango is a smooth and easy drinking White beer, with exotic fruity flavours and a refreshing citric finish. Best served at 3-5C in a tulip shaped glass. Great with Thai food and puddings.

A disappointing beer i must say, i was expecting it to be on a par with the Coconut and Banana, but it simply isn’t fruity enough – it tastes like lager with a slice of mango shoved in it. I hope this isn’t indicative of the rest of the Floris range as there are several included in this case and i do want them to taste as good as they sound. So a thumbs down from me on this one, the taste just isn’t there. (330ml, 3.6%).

So that’s it for now on the beer front, as i work my way through the rest of the case, i’ll write about the other beers. If you’re interested in trying a fruit beer – as a note i don’t normally like Lager or Bitter so even if you don’t, you may like fruit beers, try the Lindemans Kriek from ASDA or the Kriek MAX from Tesco. It’ll change your life.

(The tasting notes are word for word typed copy from the distributor – mistakes and all)

(Enjoy alcohol responsibly)