Brewery: Brouwerij Alvinne
Country: Belgium
ABV: 8%
Style: American Wild Ale
Other Notes: 2018 Fellowship. Cuvée Sofie Schaarbeekse Kriek (2016). Fruit Flemish Sour Ale. Sweet 1/5, Sour 4/5 & Bitter 0/5

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Laurelin was one of Two Trees of Valinor. It was said to be some sort of cherry tree, her last fruit was made into the sun. In July we added 25kg of Schaarbeekse Kriek to a Domaine Noelat Michel red wine (Bourgogne/Vosne-Romannée) barrel. This Cuvée Sofie aged for 28 months in this first time used Hungarian oak barrel.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.8
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 330ml bottle, with a best before date of January 2024. Poured into an Alvinne teku glass.
Appearance: A cloudy dull reddish brown colour with a thin white head that left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Sweet, oak, vanilla, cherry, marzipan, more wood, barnyard, and lightly tart.
Taste: Tart, sweet, sour, cherry, cherry wine, oak, vanilla, marzipan, with a splash of vinegar.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Given the sour and sweet ratings on the bottle label, this was a lot sweeter than I expected. That in itself is not really a problem. However despite the nice cherry notes, I felt that the oak barrel imparted quite a lot of vanilla into the flavour, and probably more than I prefer. I tried this side by side with Laurelin 2017 Fellowship Ale N°5, and I easily preferred the 2017 version more.