De Proef Flemish Primitive

De Proef Flemish Primitive

Also known as Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale.

Also known as Vlaamse Primitief.

There are 6 different labels and six different versions of this beer. All are similar.



The name refers to a description of the Hieronymus Bosch painting used on the label.




SPOON WHACKER - Released Fall 2004 - (Original Recipe -- 35 IBU’s)

PIG NUN - Released Fall 2004 - (45 IBU’s)

SURLY BIRD - Release Date: May 2005 - (45 IBU’s, extra finishing hops)

PINHEAD - Release Date: Fall 2005 - (50-55 IBU’s)

DEMON FISH - Release Date: August 2006 - (50-55 IBU’s, roasted malts, and lots of Saaz aroma hops)

RAT RIDER - Release Date: TBD - (Recipe undetermined)





http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/beers/flemprim.asp




Commercial description: Fermented three times with two different yeasts, including a strain of brettanomyces - the "wild yeast" of lambic brewing. Pale golden color with an enormous rocky white head. Brett and spicy aromatic notes, with a malty-juicy note on the palate. Finishes with Brett and dry hop notes. April 2003 selection - Michael Jackson’s Rare Beer Club. 94 points - World Beer Championships
3.5
733 reviews
Hijfte, Belgium

Community reviews

3.6 750ml c&c bottle given to me by my Uncle in honor of Sir Dante, cheers buddys. Poured a slightly hazed rusty gold with a huge bright white foamy head. Aroma is funky and funky, lightly sour, brett, cherry, horse blanket, honey and old flowers. Body has a soft mouthfeel despite loads of stingy carbonation and a lingering aftertaste. Flavor is dry bread crust, lemon zest, cherry skin, flower petals and brett. Nice stuff and well hidden ABV.
3.5 Pours a hazy orange color with a massive rich foamy white head. Nose is sour with warming yeast, and fruity. Taste is full of yeast and cloves and balanced with mild sourness. Finishes on the same tasting notes, but mild eras it sits. Descent ! Quaff Score 7 / 10
3.2 Golden medium bodied Belgian Sour with citrus, Brett funk and malts. Bottle was labelled Reinaert Flemish Wlid Ale.
4.2 Pours very unclear, amber , good but rather fast fading white head . Smell is funky , full of brett . Taste is dry , sharp , intense brett notes . Slightly sour , but mostly pure and intense funk . Great drinkability . Bit barnyard in the back . Beautiful beer !
3.5 Couleur blonde-dorée avec un col blanc assez résistant. Aromes de fuits jaune sure, pomme. Bien balancé, bonne acidité. Bière sure interessante!
3.5 Tasted on 7/31/12 from a synthetic cork and caged 750mL bottle. Pours cloudy dark orange with a thin white head that leaves very thin lace. The nose is super funky with cheesy dank basement, some cinnamon, and a savory toast aroma. The flavor is lightly sweet caramel up front, moving to all of the cheesy funk, a nice vinous sour note, and just a touch of cinnamon. The body is medium with light carbonation and a long super funky, savory toasted finish.
3.3 Poured into a sample glass at the Farmhouse: Pours amber with a big offwhite head. Aroma of grass, hay, and funk. Taste is tart, lots of sour funk, grass, and grape pez. Medium body, medium carbonation, can’t get passed the Pez flavor.
3.5 bottle @ Vino Belissimo / Lima OH --- Aroma of sweet yeast and tart grass. Cloudy medium amber with a big, rocky off-white head, thick bands of lace. Taste is slightly sour malt that becomes noticeably sweeter (with butterscotch) on the swallow before tapering nicely with a long sweet and sour finish. Sweeter than many Flemish Ales I’ve had, but solid anyway. Recommended.
3.9 Pours a golden orange color with white head. Funk, yeast, citrus, clove fruit and biscuit aroma and flavors. Medium light body and carbonation. Funk and fruit finish.
4.4 Labeled as Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale - the Cunning Fox. I’m curious how this relates to the description for this beer, which appears to need updating. Pours a nice golden color - cloudy but consistent. Fairly big white head and nice lacing. Very fruity smell - mostly raspberries. Dry, farmhouse taste. Quite nice.
3.7 Bottle. Pours cloudy yellow-gold with a large, creamy, white head. Aroma and taste of malt, hops, dank Belgian yeast, fruit. Nice touch of sourness.
3.4 Bottle. Pours hazy, light yellow with white head. Aroma is very fruity, Brett, mango, grape. Taste is grape, tart, dry, crisp. Overall, alright.
3.5 330 mL bottle as Reinaert Flemish Wild Ale. Pours a murky orangey golden with a large white head. Sour raspberry candy aroma. Slightly tart, somewhat dusty pale malts and some funkiness, some tart citrus and herbal flavor. It’s alright, but it has a way to go.
3.9 Bottle. Pours yellow with an enormous creamy head. Aroma is yeasty with brett, hay and whiffs of horse blanket. Full creamy body with soft but mouthfilling carbonation. Flavour is tart and yeasty with brett, farmyard, wood, camphor and kandi. Dry earthy finish.
3.7 11.2oz bottle at FFF. Not sure what version. Unfiltered orange-tan. Foamy white head, laces the glass well. Zest brett sourness. Barnyard mud. A touch brutal in a champagne way. Still maintains some nice luscious carbonation. Dry white wine notes. Approaching American sour test tube tones. Solid, but not perfect. Brett Tripel.
3.7 "Surly Bird: pretty weird beer. Not wild.sour in the traditional sense, but there’s all kinds off odd fruity flavors and aromas, some tart, some floral, some sweet. Definitely unique enough to make me want to try other versions of this stuff."
3.3 Surly Bird version on draft at Edmunds Oast. Slight haze on this golden colored brew with a small bubbly white head. Earthy, slight musty aroma with hints of tropical fruits, phenolic spice and a light honied sweetness. Flavor is a bit oxidized and one dimensional with similar characteristics. Not terrible by any means.
2.7 Bottle from mari?s. Pours clear yellow with a huge white head that dissipates slowly with tons of lacing. The aroma has vinegar, apple, acetic notes, lemon. The taste is earthy, funky, mushroom, dirt, Meh.
3.4 Poured from a 750ml bottle. The aroma is earthy, mushroom, barnyard. The flavor is better then the aroma. Earthy, citrusy, mushroom, barnyard. Interesting.
3.4 Location: Sampled at Where the Wild Beers Are, 6/7/14, as Reinaert Flemish Wild Aroma: Nose is yeast/spice, some funky notes, and fruit Appearance: It pours an orange color with a medium off-white/beige head Flavor: Sweet and yeasty flavor, some funk, and some spice as well Palate: The body is medium, with a decent mouthfeel and some funky feeling finish Overall Impression: Solid, but not amazing example of the style. Just good enough to not be completely forgettable, but not all that memorable either.
3.6 A nice beer. Good and tart with a nice aroma. A really big head when poured but delicous
3.0 From a bottle. The pour is a pale orange with a white lace. The saccharomyces I imagine is more over powering the. The brettanomyces and give of this sour chalk taste with fruity, cherry-ish.
3.6 From bottle at Higgins. Fizzy, light rose golden color. Aroma is sweet plum and lightly tart yeast. Taste is bitter grass, lightly funky yeast, sweet pitted fruit. Aftertaste is more funky with the plum note remaining.
2.6 This is fucking confusing: I think this is the right beer. Unknown bottle date. Pours cloudy apricot with a persistent cream pillow. Smells of apple skins, some funk some sweet malts, some musk. Flavor is sweet with some florals, some funk and corn, but mostly florals and moth ball. Medium bodied with moderately tight but reserved carb. Meh.
3.0 This is blond and cloudy w/ a dense and long lasting white head, just about perfect for the style if you ask me. This is a decent wild ale that strikes me as rather complex but in a way that is interesting more so than good. There is a bit of a musty basement funk to and it’s bitter to the point of being borderline metallic. They seem to have been going for something Orval-ish here but miss the mark.
3.3 Bottle - Tropical fruit, orange, Bret and other fruit esters. Clear golden orange with a rich white head. Sweet sugars, apricot and tropical fruits and a light bitterness.
3.8 Pours a very bright golden in color with a full, billowing white head. Fruity and sour aroma contains lots of grape and apple. I find some spices, pear and yeast as well. Very enticing. The taste is dry and tart. However, it doesn’t contain the amount of tartness that is found in others of this style. More pear and apple are found, with some minor grape coming through more at the end. Grape aftertaste lasts for awhile, although it isn’t very strong. The alcohol content hides itself well. Medium in body, sticky in texture, while having some lively carbonation. I like this one. It isn’t as extreme offering in this style. While some might like this more because of this, I enjoy the ones that hit you with strong sourness much more.
3.6 Flemish Primitive Wild (Surly Bird). Bottle from Proof. Pours a golden straw color with an inch and a half of bubbly white head. Sticky lacing from the very beginning. Head settles into a thick collar of differing size bubbles, clumps of head across the surface, and thin head where the clumps aren’t present. Aroma is apple and grape sweetness, lots of yeast funk, and lots of dry grass. Taste is the grass and funk playing fairly well together. Light carbonation and medium body, slightly creamy mouthfeel.
3.5 Bottle. Tons of carbonation. The bottle started overflowing after I just cracked the top. Hazy orange with a big off-white head. Sweet Brett and funk aromas. Surprisingly sticky-sweet with some candi and horse blanket.
2.9 Cloudy gold color. Heavy white lacing. Aroma of sour apple. Sips medium to full with a fruity and sour flavor. High tingly carbonation..spritzy champagne like. Bitter and gueze like lambic finish..very tart and dry.