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Styles · Flanders Red Ale

Beer style · BJCP 2021 23B

Flanders Red Ale

European Sour Ale

Published ranges These are the ranges the BJCP 2021 guidelines publish for this style.

Original gravity
1.048–1.057
Final gravity
1.002–1.012
Bitterness
10–25 IBU
Color
10–16 SRM (20–32 EBC)
Alcohol
4.6–6.5 % ABV

What it is

Deep reddish-brown and strikingly wine-like, with dark cherry and plum fruit riding on a sharp acetic-plus-lactic tang. Long maturation in oak foeders builds vanilla and tannin, and most examples blend young and aged beer to land the balance. Hops are a rounding error here.

Flavor

What a Flanders Red Ale should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Hops stay in the background: none of their character belongs.

Malt

Dark fruit and caramel, with room for grainy, toasty, sweet/honey or bready/biscuit.

Fermentation

Tart and fruity esters, with room for funk.

Hops that suit it

None on character. The hops in this style are there for bitterness and balance, and any variety whose aroma you would notice is out of place.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.