Fancy Pants Sunday: Kriek DeRanke
Welcome, aficionados of velvet tongues and sip‑sublime revelations. At Peaks & Pints, Sundays are for satin‑palates and plush pours — Fancy Pants Sunday, our weekly ode to beers that refuse to slum it in tallboys or speak in monosyllables. This week’s showstopper is Kriek De Ranke, a cherry‑wild sour brewed with audacious intent, where sour beer meets fresh fruit and wild yeast in a glass designed for the curious and the bold. Put simply: this is not your sweet‑and‑slick cherry soda masquerading as brew — this is cherry rebellion in ruby red.
The Alchemy of Kriek De Ranke
It started with two home‑brewers — Nino Bacelle and Guido Devos — in 1996, launching Brlouwerij – Brasserie De Ranke in Wevelgem & later Dottignies, Belgium, with a mission: fresh hops, unfiltered integrity, no compromise. In 2000, they gave birth to Kriek De Ranke — a blend of aged Flemish ale and lambic from the Zenne Valley, finished with an ultra‑generous dose of whole sour cherries. This is tradition intersecting with audacity: wild yeast, wood‑aging, cherries in tanks for months — a sour cherry beer born of patience, not shortcuts.
“Kriek” is the Flemish word for a sour cherry, yes — but in this incarnation it’s a banner of terroir, time, wild fermentation and fruit‑fueled urgency. “De Ranke,” meaning “the vine” or “the slender branch,” pays homage to the hops‑vine heritage of the brewery (and by extension, to the raw natural materials harvested for craft). Putting them together, Kriek De Ranke becomes a symbolic winding of vine & cherry‑pit, wild yeast & wood‑aged ale — a beer that leans, arcs, then blossoms.
Pour Kriek De Ranke into a tulip and you’ll watch ruby‑red light filter through the glass like stained‑glass sunlight. On the nose: tart sour cherry (not sugary cherry cola), oak‑aged leather, a hint of balsamic glaze and wild‑yeast funk creeping beneath. According to the brewery: “full cherry flavour, sour and thirst‑quenching, gentle oaky notes from oak‑aging.” On the palate: crisp acidity, the bittersweet bite of cherry pits, oak tannins, a balanced dryness that compels another sip. This is a beer to slow‑sip, to sit with, to let unroll like a midnight poem. It doesn’t holler. It whispers secrets that demand attention.
You fancy, Kriek De Ranke.
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