Bacchus Kriek is a promising dark red colour. I was afraid it might come out the lurid red of syrupy fake kriek, but it looks good and the aroma offers delicate, and real, cherry notes. The taste is rather less delicate, seeming stronger than 5.8% ABV would suggest and full of sweet cherries with virtually no underlying sourness, unfortunately. For all its big-bodied weight, it manages to avoid being syrupy or artificial, but there's no getting away from all that boozy fruit. On a good day you might say it tastes of cherry liqueur; on a bad one, cough mixture.It's not a classic by any manner of means, but I quite enjoyed it. If I had regular access to it I'd probably buy it again, though the nearly-£3 price tag is a tad hefty for Sainsbury's, given the great stuff they usually have for under £2. It's not that much of a novelty to justify being priced as one.
*[Wrongly -- see comments -- thanks Michael!]
Picked it put in Sainsbury's a while back, not bad
ReplyDeleteI thought the frambose was 5.8%. Isn't the Kriek 6+%?
ReplyDeleteBacchus is good for what it is and that is a commercial Kriek. I found it a bit too sweet for my liking and I agree that I was waiting on a sourness which never developed.
ReplyDeleteIt is expensive for what it is though. Just for the record too, its not own brand and you can pick it up in quite a few places. Ive had it on tap too in one of my locals and it tastes better and a little more complex on tap
I've never tasted a non-commercial kriek.
ReplyDeletePretty sure it was 5.8% ABV, CL. I didn't even pick up the framboise.
I've never felt the urge to try this. Sainsbury's logic for stocking it seems to be based entirely on the paper wrapper and the likelihood of people mistaking it for Liefman's. Cynical.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that, whilst not a proper Kriek (I think it'd be a Kriekenbier(?!), M&S cherry wheat beer is rather lip smackingly lovely.
ReplyDeleteAt €3.19 for a small bottle of industrially-produced 3.5% ABV supermarket beer, I'd always interpreted M&S Cherry Wheat as a thought-provoking art installation on the nature of value, rather than something they actually intended people to buy.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI had some of this the other day from morrisons it was just over £2 a bottle, like you say it's nowt special but likeable!
ReplyDeletethe lindemans kriek is currently on offer for just over £1 for the same size bottle in asda too.
Marks'Cherry wheat is made by Brouwerij Huyghe. No more or less 'industrial' than Tremens. Neither is Bacchus a supermarket own brand.
ReplyDeleteYes, we've had that correction about the Bacchus. And I'm aware who makes M&S Cherry Wheat: no more or less industrial than Floris, Mongozo and Sexy Lager. Which is pretty damn industrial.
ReplyDelete