Tasting Notes: Oud Bruin w/ Wyeast 3209

Here's some tasting notes for the Oud Bruin I made with Wyeast's blend earlier this summer.  The beer was at 1.017 after primary fermentation; I transferred it to secondary after about 2 weeks and added 5lbs of tart cherries.  I then left it for 5-6 more weeks, during which time the gravity continued to drop down to 1.006.  I don't know if that was further activity from the original blend, or if the cherries introduced some wild yeasts.  Either way, its been in the bottle for almost a month with no signs of over-carbonation.

The pH is around 3.7 at 15°C according to my meter; so not blisteringly sour, but certainly tart.  Its probably about right for the style.  The beer is fine but a bit one-dimensional; as you can probably tell from my tasting notes below, I'm not particularly excited about it. I may enter it in some local competitions at the start of next year to get some more objective feedback.

Appearance: Deep brown colour, verging on reddish when held up the light.  Lightly tan-coloured head that dissipates to a small lingering cap.

Smell: Soft cherries and almonds, with a strong lactic note underneath it.  Slight mustiness too---maybe a bit of sulfur?

Taste: Medium tartness hits first, followed by a slightly sweet fruitiness.  Latter is pretty generic, a bit of cherry, maybe some plum.  More pronounced cherry as it gets warmer. Not much in the way of maltiness, and the mid-palate disappears quickly.  Warming alcohol at the end.

Mouthfeel: Slightly thicker mouth-feel than the lactobacillus and brettanomyces beers I brewed earlier this year, which may be in part due to glycerol from the yeast but is also probably a result of the higher ABV.

Drinkability & Notes: This is a perfectly drinkable beer, but otherwise pretty unremarkable.   The cherries don't pop out in the way I'd hoped, and the base beer is nicely tart but a bit one dimensional.    To be honest I'm a bit disappointed that I used 5lbs of cherries on this, its just not a good enough beer.  Maybe the second-extraction beer with added brettanomyces will be more exciting.