So how do you like them? Is there a lot of difference?
don't know if you know this, but the Cuvee Brut is their original "kriekbier" (cherry beer)
after Duvel Moortgat bought Liefmans (bankrupt 2007) they decided to make a new, more commercial "kriekbier" - less alcohol and sweeter taste - and the old one was now named Cuvee Brut and put in a bigger bottle to make it more "exclusive"

the new kriekbier also has added raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and i think they're called elderberries in English...
I know that the new kriekbier is really popular here in Antwerp (Belgium), especially with girls... a lot of my female friends take them when we go to a bar that serves it, but I've never had the Cuvee Brut

Kasteel Rouge is an excellent cherry beer along the same lines as what you're talking about. If you like cherries or sweeter beers it's worth checking out.

Kasteel also makes the excellent Donker ale, which is probably one of my favorite beers to get from the local Belgian-style alehouses in Milwaukee. It's more of a dubbel than a true dark ale, it has a nice chocolatey molasses flavor to go with a pretty hefty booze content.

How sweet is the Kasteel Rouge compared to other Kriek/Lambic/sours? I haven't made it to that bottle yet, but I'm willing to purchase it sooner rather than later if it might be a contender in its price range.

One of the best fruit beers (and, btw, RIP Fort 2010) I've had lately was Great Divide's Wild Raspberry Ale. It's not sweet, a little tart, and very nice. I'm interested in grabbing Founders' Cerise and a few of the Krieks that are yet un-sampled, too.

I know I've had the Kasteelbier before... But can't really remember it that well. This Saturday I'm going to my new favourite Beer bar in Antwerp ('t Antwaerps Bierhuiske - they are on Facebook if interested ) and am definitely going to try it out...
I haven't had the Kasteel Rouge, though. Don't think I've even seen it anywhere...

Living in Belgium, I have a hard time finding foreign beers... It's hard to find anything from the US for example, although there are a lot of nice microbrews that I would like to try out...

If anyone has any info on bars in Belgium where I could find them, please let me know!

I liked the Great Divide Wild Raspberry but thought Dark Horse's offering was a bit better. I felt the raspberry was a bit too muted in the Great Divide. The Dark Horse one didn't taste like extract but had a bit more flavor. Loved the Cerise. I once drank an entire bottle of Fort by myself before realizing it was 18%. It was decent but very boozy.

BTW I picked a Kasteel Rouge. It's sweet, very carbonated. I was expecting a tart / sour flavor, but it's not like that at all. I liked it.

My friends and I had a pretty awesome stout tasting on Saturday. In order, we had:

Olde Hickory Hickory Stick Stout: American stout, very hoppy.

Dock Street Prince Myshkin: Imperial Stout aged in Pinot Noir barrels that previously aged their '09 barleywine. Surprisingly great. Interesting mix of wine and stout.

Big Sky Ivan the Terrible: Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. Boozy but pretty freaking delicious. Thick mouthfeel, lots of vanilla, some chocolate. Only negative was it got very hot near the end.

Olde Hickory The Event Horizon: Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. Pretty fantastic, best of the night. Slightly less hot than Ivan and even more flavors. Very smooth through the whole glass.

Troegs Splinter Black: Barrel Aged Imperial Stout w/ cocoa nibs and vanilla. Pretty disappointing honestly. Very woody and roasty without much else. Thin and overly carbonated. Decent but didn't measure up.

Surly Darkness: Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. Pretty great, complex. Nice balance between the sweetness and the hops.

Unfortunately not much of the above is readily available. Ivan the Terrible is out right now but hard to find.

As much WoW info as I've gotten from this site, THIS is the thread that brings me out of lurking.

I'm an avid homebrewer (got my first 3 medals in 2010) and craft beer activist. While the latest fad of sours is good, I still prefer British Ales (love those biscuity malt profiles) and German Lagers (noble hops and sweet pilsner malt).

I did see a post a few above mine that I wanted to comment on regarding lactose sugar and yeast. Yes, most brewers' yeasts cannot ferment lactose sugar but that's because many brewers are brewing ales only. Saccharomyces cervisiae cannot break down polysaccharides but S.c. is only 1/3 of the major yeasts. The other 2/3 are capable of breaking those down (S. pastorianus (lager) and S. bayanus (wine)). This is probably why there aren't milk schwarzbiers.

Enough of the beer-nerd talk. Really looking forward to following this thread, now.

Yeah sorry I was definitely speaking in generalities about lactose. For the purpose of milk stouts, my comment was correct but totally simple as far as other stuff. Brett can ferment it as well which is why you won't see any barrel aged milk stouts with brett. Probably turn out disgusting.

Oh and grats on the medals, that's exciting. Do you brew the British Ale styles?

The local pub got a rather interesting beer in tap this week from slyfox, namely their black raspberry reserve. It's a very dark looking beer with red-ish/purple head when poured (though very light on the head). Aromas definitely smell of the fruit involved. When drinking it's incredibly light compared to what the color shows and more carbonated the normal beer. I'd almost say it drinks more like a wine that a beer but it's still pretty good. The great thing is that it's still pretty balanced so someone like me who doesn't like real sweet beers wasn't put off by it at all.

I'll bet someone has thought about it in a drunken stupor (brett milk anything).

British and German beers are my favorite to brew in addition to consume. My go-to house ale is a regular old ordinary bitter. A good friend of mine upped the base malt up a couple pounds to atleast make it a best bitter but I like it at the 3(ish)%. Don't get me wrong: I love a good tripel or a barleywine. That low abv bitter is just my favorite. I do make a British IPA, as well. That is one of my favorite styles to share with people who "only like IPA's."

Thanks for the congrats!