Brewery Ommegang Rare Vos World Class Beer Highlight

Brewery Ommegang Rare Vos is not the easiest beer to pin down, which is part of its appeal. Ommegang calls it an Amber Ale, our judges reviewed it as a Bière de Garde, and plenty of drinkers think of it as a Belgian Pale Ale. However you classify it, Rare Vos earned its World Class score of 98 in our Official Review by being singular, layered and unusually memorable.

This feature explores the strange fox behind the name, the tavern history that inspired the beer, and the tasting notes that made Rare Vos stand out to our judges. With orange peel, grains of paradise, coriander, expressive Belgian yeast character and an exceptionally smooth 6.8% ABV profile, Rare Vos remains one of Ommegang’s most distinctive beers.

Style History

Here’s a style you don’t run into every day, but in the case of Ommegang’s Rare Vos, it’s one you remember. The Bière de Garde (beer for keeping) style hails from Flanders and is termed “farmhouse” for the self-sufficient mode of its traditional production. No saison or Brett characteristics here. Its origin naturally allows for some variability in what classifies a beer of this style, though hallmarks include a strength above 6 percent, amber hues, with a smooth, malty and sometimes fruity flavor profile. One sip is fruity. The next, sweet. Then rich bread. In the case of Rare Vos, flavors evolve as you sip, making it wonderfully sessionable and complex. The author recalls an evening where a small group found continuous depth of flavor within multiple pitchers, without ever becoming boring or one-note.

Two glasses of Ommegang Rare Vos next to a can on a table.

About Rare Vos

Rare Vos translates to Strange Fox, a name which captures the intriguing, distinguished quality of this brew. Ommegang calls it an Amber Ale with orange peel, grains of paradise and coriander, but our judge reviewed it as a Bière de Garde and modern interpretations often claim it as a Belgian Pale Ale. Clearly, there’s nothing quite like it.

The name comes from a tavern near Brussels renowned as a starting point for cycling contests and pigeon races, the source for its iconic logo of a bicycle tire and wing, formerly echoed in the beer’s label. Inn and cafe since 1880, the establishment became “Rare Vos” after World War II, when brewer Lous Moles de Bailly took over and began producing lambics via spontaneous fermentation, often mixing in local cherries to make kriek. This ginger-haired illegitimate son of an aristocrat was something of a strange fox himself, and he quickly garnered a cult following.

Launched at the turn of the millennium, this 6.8% ABV beer boasts an especially creamy crown of white foam which lasts an exceptionally long time, with multifarious notes ranging from orange peel to grains of paradise, remaining uncannily smooth and easy to drink. The beer uses just Styrian Golding hops and Pilsner, Aroma and Caramel malts. What ties the proverbial room together is its proprietary yeast strain, which homebrewers struggled to find analogues for, instead resorting to harvesting yeast from a Rare Vos bottle. Again, this is a unique brew.

Our judges called Rare Vos “as close to perfection as you’ll find on Earth,” and a “singular drinking experience,” praising its distinctive amber hue and extensive bouquet of aromas including cinnamon, cardamom, licorice, plums, cherrystones, papaya, clove, brown sugar and caramel. Other tasting notes included peach beneath rum raisin and Tellicherry pepper. In their final summation, Rare Vos was judged a “truly classic beer to be lingered over and enjoyed at one’s leisure. Too good to rush through, Rare Vos is the ideal cool weather tipple.”

A Singular Beer

Rare Vos has the sort of character that resists a clean summary, which is probably why it lingers. The beer moves with quiet confidence: amber malt, lively spice, soft fruit, that creamy crown of foam, all unfolding without demanding that you solve it. It is elegant, but not delicate. Complex, but not fussy. And while its style classification may remain a small tavern argument waiting to happen, the drinking experience itself is much easier to understand. Rare Vos is a beer built for time, conversation and returning to the glass to find something you missed the first time.