The Dove Street Inn pub in Ipswich is one of only 2 establishments in my home town which serves the delights of Belgian beer. Two of their biggest sellers is Leffe Blond, and Belle-Vue Kriek. Both are from the now-biggest brewery in the world, Inbev.
Leffe Blond has always been a good, but not excellent, spicy abbey beer. However the Belle-Vue Kriek is one that I've always been worried about. As this is a very commercial cherry beer from a company that needs to closely keep an eye on it's finances, the question always was.....Is this a cherry beer made with proper fruit, or with just syrups added?
And now I have the proof!!!
I am very pleased to say that Inbev does indeed use proper cherries in their Kriek beer!
Filip, owner of the Belgian Beer Board, has recently discovered this via a flemish finance channel piece on Inbev. They were allowed to go inside the brewery, and they filmed cherries being added to a huge vat of lambic beer. A very nice sight indeed.
The photos and a small piece from the broadcast can be found at the below link......
http://belgianbeerboard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=393&Itemid=88888994
So there you have it. Belle-Vue Kriek does seem to be a proper cherry beer.
Cheers!
Carl Dickson (Bier Coaster! Site Admin)
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