Girardin Gueuze White Label

Brewed by Brouwerij Girardin
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Sint Ulriks-Kapelle, Belgium

Dusty aroma. Not super-sour. Stinky cheesy flavor as it melts in your mouth but gives you some tangy sharpness, in part induced by the fizziness. Not the best of the Girardin bunch, but perfectly enjoyable.

Courtesy of moejuck

Bottle: Huge sour, must, and funky cheese aroma. It’s one of the funkiest smelling lambics I’ve ever had. It pours a slightly hazy golden-orange with a moderate white head. The taste is much more mild then the aroma lead me to believe. The flavor starts with a mild lemony and green apple sourness that increases in the finish with some light woodiness. Fizzy almost spritzy mouthfeel.

25 oz bottle, via henrikb. Pours a clear dark copper body, rather dark for a Gueuze. Foamy creamy one finger off-white head. Lots of fine carbonation. Sightly sweet musty nose, with just a slight touch of cheesiness. Nothing like the Black Label. No barnyardy or real funkiness at all. Alot of sweetness up front in the flavor that fades to just a minimal slight sourness. Some musty cork and wet hay on the finish. Mouthfeel is sticky and doughy with a clingy sweetness on the finish. Mild very fine carbonation. It just seems a little too thick. Overall, this was just a huge letdown. I thought that this was just going to be a filtered version of the Black Label and that it wouldn’t make a whole lot of difference, but it seems very different. I don’t understand all the high ratings that his has gotten. Maybe this was a sub-par batch I got? Among the worst Gueuzes that I’ve had.

Bottle shared by the generous Orlando crew! The beer pours to a really sour, musty, feet and barnyard aroma. Clean golden body with a fizzy white head. Tart, sweet, funky, sour, cheesy flavors. Complex. Seems more blended and balanced than the Black Label. The beer is definitely less intense/tart.

Orange golden colored, frothy white head. Tart woody aroma with earth and grapefruit tones. Sharp biding flavor with a sour edge, but not extreme. Rather dry and woody with plenty of grapefruit. Refreshing, but not that interesting and far from the black label version!

Bottle shared with the regular crew plus MDS at Greg’s, Harry’s bottle. Really really good aroma - so funky - ammonia, sulfur, yeast, earthy outdoor barnyard - it is all here and oh so good. Dark yellow, small white head. Wow, super funky taste- compared favourably to the Black label based on my memory, this would be a dream double to have at a tasting. More funk than the aroma even suggests. Thin to medium bodied and foamy. Short linger which is a tiny let down. Maybe just not quite as complex as the black, but all the right flavours are there. Not acidic at all. What a wonderful beer - how do these guys do it?

Bottle from De Bierkoning. Mostly clear and pure amber in hue, the body is strewn with streams of tiny bubbles that pool into a small, fizzy head of off-white foam. Minimal, splotchy lacing marks the glass. The aroma shows a semi-sweet, fermented fruity funk, with a grapey, cider-like tartness and hints of wild must. There’s a bit of peppery, almost meaty spice that I’ve never before encountered in a lambic. Flavors are similar, tart and somewhat vinegary, driven by sweet and sour apples and grapes. The moderate body is fizzy and zesty, a bit sugary for the style, coating the mouth after the finish. Though it’s fairly tasty, the sugar content keeps it drinking on the heavy side for a gueuze. Decent, but the black label destroys it.

Light metallic nose, gold color, foamy off-white head. Quick sweetish apple juice taste. Then a strong tart sourness. Gritty, grassiness in feel. Bitter and dry end, like an orange peel or fresh date. Full body. Quality beer for sure.