 FlacoAlto (2010), Tucson, Arizona, USA
Apr 12, 2008
Date on the bottle of September 2007; Sampled April 2008
Pours into my 25cl tulip glass with an initially four-finger thick, light tan colored head that slowly subsides with a varied, textured surface and lots of lacing on the sides of the glass. The beer is a brilliantly clear, red stained, amber color, but shows a deep copper tinted, bright amber color when held up to the light. The aroma smells tart with notes of sour grapefruit, some green apple notes, some lightly oxidized malt notes of sherry. Only lightly funky with a caramelized mushroom note, with just a hint of barnyard and some musty grain notes. Very soft smelling for a Lambic, but most of the traditional aromatics are here, just more muted than one would expect.
Lightly tart up front, but then a caramel sweetness kicks in. The beer is not overly sweet for say an English Bitter, but it is a bit out of place here. A light lactic acidity provides a mix of flavors resembling sour-grapefruit and apple vinegar. As expected the flavor is not overly funky, in fact it is downright approachable for a Gueuze, the tartness makes this quite drinkable, especially since the light caramel sweetness offsets it; it is missing all that barnyard funk & wild character that I personally like to find in a good example of the style. Some sherry like, oxidized malt notes seem to show up here and are quite atypical of a Lambic (I wonder if they added caramel for sweetness to this and this is what is oxidizing).
Not nearly as bad as I expected, but still not my preference at all for a Lambic. I could see recommending this to someone who is a bit wary of traditional Lambics.
chilangoglobal (47), Wagerningen, Netherlands
Jun 21, 2008 without being a mixture of parfums aroma is balanced and enjoyable. brown, bit red and sparkling body with frothy head but bit unconsistent, Taste is enjoyable bit sweet, bit bitter and citrus end.
gunnfryd (2634), Kristiansand, Norway
Jun 15, 2008 Bottle @ Maria tasting. Dark golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet, sour, apple, yeast. Flavour is sweet, sour, apple, yeast. I think this is a sweet gueuze.
acrdz (4089), Pennsylvania, USA
Jun 2, 2008 330ml bottle. Fresh. Clear light apple juice appearance. Sweet sugared apple and pear and (some) wheat in the nose. Sparkling and cola-like on the tongue, with sweetened apple soda pop and sprite and pears and again, just a little bit of wheat. Seems to lack any sort of real sourness, no surprise, only just a tangy, pepperiness on the palate that comes off more as ginger soda than lambic acidity. Simple and passable, but this was the only thing that looked good on the dinner menu.
jezmez68 (257), Chesterton, Indiana, USA
Jun 1, 2008 25 cl bottle from Belgium via Dirk’s suitcase. Thanks! I guess I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t ante up a 33 cl bottle, it’s not like it’s an 8.5 - 9% ABV. My bottle actual said 5.5%, not 5.2 as shown here. Pours sort of an orangish/golden/with red hue. Head shows up and goes away. Tastes of sour green apples, carbonation, and white wine. This is my first gueuze - tasty. It appears that people on this site think there are better ones, but I enjoyed it, for as far as it went. A nice departure from a lot of the American micros I’ve been drinking lately.
bhensonb (2670), Woodland, California, USA
May 30, 2008 Tap at at a small cafe on the Groen Plaats in Antwerp. Copper amber color with a beige lacing head. Light lactic aroma. Spicey, fruity lactic flavor - but mild lactic. Reminds of spiced peach. then it turns into bread. Dry. Finishes very mildly sour. Might be gueuze for dummies, but I like it. Wife offered to trade her white wine for it.
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