Chapeau Cuvée

Brewed by Brouwerij De Troch
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Ternat-Wambeek, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

Bottle, 37,5 cl (bought @ Geers). Almost clear golden color, with very small white head. Aroma bit malts, sour, fruity, (oranges ?) Medium body. Taste i’m suprised this is sucha nice gueuze. Sourness, dry, fruity. Like it !

375ml bottle. Pours a light golden yellow-orange color. Lemony intense aroma, with an equally intense taste. Acidic and tart, with a wheaty, funky farmhouse thing going on. Delicious and on par with any traditional gueuze such as Cantillon or De Cam. Great beer.

Clear straw gold with slight haze, Champenoise pearling to white-transparant, for a gueuze pretty stable head. Great Brett nose, lemony & freshly baked white bread, some solvent. Refreshing tart taste with some yeasty, meaty esters - seems not only horseblanket, but horsemeat as well (out of bounds beer for British tasters). Lemon, wood, faint solvent. Very refreshing, tart, long dry-out effect. I’m flabbergasted. This is at least as good as the old De Troch gueuze. Jos can still do it, it would appear. Does he really need this tainted "Chapeau" moniker?

Cloudy golden-blonde body with a long lasting enormous white head. Biggest head I’ve ever seen, a bitch to pour. Aroma is green apples in a barnyard. The taste is extreme. Compare to this a standard gueuze (Cantillon, 3F, etc) is really smooth and mellow. Extreme acidity and almost as much sourness, to a point where you can barely taste any flavours. Lemon and extreme tartness. You wanna have big sips but you physically can’t. Very aggressive carbonation. Its sweetness would be a problem with standard gueuzes but here it is a welcomed softener addition. I liked it a lot more than I should have but I stand by it. Very cold on a hot after-noon this is a pure pleasure of masochistic proportion. Did I get a special bottle? I don’t know and I don’t care, that was great. And if you don’t like it remember that it’s illegal to pour down the drain something that acidic. It’s has to be recycled with your walkman batteries.

Foamy but quickly disappearing head on a hazy body the color of summer wheat. Holy crap, I didn’t think De Troch could make anything this tart. Horse blanket, hay, funk, lemon, and a little barn must. Under carbonated a tad, but exceptionally tart with a mouthwatering lemony sweetness.. Mouth puckering in fact.

UPDATED: APR 6, 2008 Leather, sweat, lemon, green apples, mold, wet horseblankets.........Very nice, fresh, dry and tasty.

UPDATED: AUG 8, 2007 375ml bottle, vintage unknown
Consumed at Het Waterhuis, Gent, May 2006
Extra tall billowy white head, towering above the glass. Rapidly rising strings of bubbles climb vertically through the clear golden straw colored body. The nose consists of musty oranges and crisp lemon seeds, with some musty old wwood scents as well. Extremely carbonated and fizzy, though not thin, the palate is rough and coarse. Has an oily lemon flavor up front, underneath a rough acidic attack. Amazingly delicious, coating the mouth with an oily, resiny pineapple and honey-vinegar flavor. A fantastic gueze.

Photograph of Bottle & Glass
www.youforgotpoland.org/beer/DeTrochCuveeChapeau

Sour indications in the nose instantly jump out. I had to get a second opinion to confirm I was smelling cheese. Smooth not overly carbonated on the palate. Some sweetness in the flavor, but again an aged cheesiness. Perfect match for the cheese niblets they served on the side.