Petrus Oud Bruin is my first Flanders Brown (no, not Ned Flanders).  Flanders ales, from the Flemish region of Belgium, are typically sour or tart, fruity, and lightly hopped. 

Petrus Oud Bruin

Petrus Oud Bruin, made by Bavik Brewery in Belgium, is also known as Petrus old dark.  The Bavik Brewery is a family owned brewery founded in 1894, and is on its fourth generation.  The brewery only had a handful of local customers until the late 1980s, and was relatively unknown outside of Belgium.  The brewery sponsored a soccer team.  The soccer team helped popularize many of their beers including the Petrus Oud Bruin.  The team is gone, but the beers are known world wide (advertising works!).

Petrus Oud Bruin is a Flanders Brown, aged 20 years in oak barrels.

Looks

Petrus Oud Ale is a brown ale that is aged in oak casks for two years.  The color was a dark reddish brown.  The beer is slightly hazy, but clear enough to see through.  The head was solid with small bubbles, but not very thick.

Aroma

The beer has a nutty smell, almost chocolatey.  There are hints of oak, but the aroma really is not “oakey”.  The beer had a really good aroma, and gives you great expectations of what will come next.

Taste

The taste was a surprise.  I wasn’t expecting so much sour flavor in the beer.  I think I was expecting more oak flavor since it was aged in oak.  The sour notes are similar to the “twang” in a Guinness.  The mouth feel was a bit lighter than I was expecting too.  As expected, there were no hop flavors in the beer.  Petrus was more fruity than malty.  I could pick up some cherry flavors in the beer which were probably coming from the sour notes.

The color is brown with slight reddish hues.

Results

I think the aromas of Petrus Oud Bruin were better than the flavor of the beer.  It was an ok beer, but I did not feel like going back for a second beer.  The beer seemed a bit light.  I’d give Petrus Oud Bruin 6 Ned Flanders out of 10.

Brewery: Bavik
Country of Origin: Belgium
Style: Oud Bruin (Flanders Brown)
ABV: 5.5%

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