Eylenbosch Gueuze

Formerly brewed at Mort Subite (Alken-Maes - Heineken)
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Kobbegem, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

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[The original Eylenbosch Gueze - vintage 1988 - sampled March 2004] The aroma is both sweet and sour with notes of wood. The color is a hazy amber and it has a fine head. The flavor is both sweet and sour with notes of candy sugar - like a Faro. The notes of sugar makes it a little weird - I wonder if it is the 16 years in the bottle that has done this? For a gueze this is not that good - but as a beer it is OK.

Diese Flasche habe ich Egide Snakkers zu verdanken, der sie mir zum Testen überließ. 1989 wurde die Brauerei von Alken-Maes aufgekauft und 2001 ganz geschlossen, die Flasche stammt noch aus der Zeit vor beiden Ereignissen aus der Mitte der 80er Jahre. Verhalten säuerlicher Geruch, nicht unheimlich aromatisch wie viele andere Gueuze. Mäßig säuerliches, gleichmäßiges Auftreten, wobei es nicht das Gefühl und die Feinfühligkeit besitzt, den Tester richtig anzusprechen. Die Aromen sind nicht wirklich stark und die Säuerlichkeit bleibt auf gleichem Niveau. Keine Ausnahme-Gueuze!

Roskilde Festival Tasting. 1989 vintage. Pours a hazy red amber. Surprisingly sweet with lots of rye notes. Tastes like ymerdrys. Slightly spicy in the end. Never thought I should say this about a gueuze but it was actually toos sweet.

1991 bottle provided by and shared with clarkvv on 5/1/2005: Cork appears in good condition. Pours with a large yellowish head (nice!) that quickly dies to nothing. Copper dark amber colored body that is mostly opaque with visable tiny bubbles and ruby highlights. Aroma: sweet fruits, ceder, light pepper, dusty wood, yeast, oxidized caramel. Flavor: somewhat oxidized (sherry notes up front), wet oak & ceder wood, acidic barnyard flavor, dusty, stale hops, berries, surprisingly sweet for a gueuze. I can’t fault the body on this - plenty of carbonation still left, nice tiny tingling bubbles, not watery. Thanks to Jacob for sending this to clark, and clark for sharing it.

UPDATED: DEC 27, 2006 1991 bottle 375mL shared with Bucknaked on 5/1/2005.
Pours a caramelized sugar colored orange-amber (caramel) with some bright golden-copper tinges. Sediment at the bottom is surprisingly (to me) very light (in quantity). This poured with a big yellow-flecked white head which rapidly dissipates to a ring and then nothing. But it’s absolutely marvelous to see it pour a head at 14 years of age. Fine bubbles still rise to the surface in the liquid. Aroma of dry, dusty yeast, sawdust like, perhaps, with low, but still discernable barnyard qualities, wet hay, bits of damp barniness (that’s a new word). But up front in the aroma we have bits of aceteldahyde or however you spell it, with lots of cideriness, quite a smooth, sweet sherry oxidation and a caramelly sweetness. The flavor approximates the aroma quite nicely, though there is even less funk in the flavor. Caramelized sugar or candi sugar (or whatever is giving that big sweetness and color) roams a bit too freely in the flavor and this is sweeter than I would prefer a gueuze to be, but the body has held up remarkably well, no wateriness, not thin, just a bit of tingly carbonation and a smooth, soft mouthfeel. Bit of sawdust again on the finish, cider vinegar, little bit of sweet and sour sauce and then just fade to sugar. Incredibly well-preserved. This is the kind of oxidation that I live for (just wish the beer wasnt so sweet). This must have been brutally sweet when fresh, though. Thank you so much Jacob, that was truly generous of you to send this!! I think Ungstrup’s comment, "for a gueuze not so good, for a beer OK" is spot on.

375ml bottle, I think from 1988 or something. Lost my notes, but didn’t really need them with this. Long story short, a complete buttery mess. Just nasty butterscotch, something has gone wrong here. I would have liked to have tried one of the "epic" bottles of this, but diacetyl just took over this poor bottle.

The original Eylenbosch Gueuze - Vintage 1988.
Amber orange body with a fine head. Aroma of vinegar and wet wood - old and fusty. Sweet sugar and wood flavor with a little sourness to the finish. Smells and tastes old!

Strong oxidation doesn’t lie in the nose in the shape of madeirised stinky caramelised old pennies and clover honey. Leather and corky flavours have that damp earth stale texture to them, the palate being completely dead and flat, oily and musty. Not many qualities remaining in this one, still tart though, but worse than the kriek I’ve had this summer and I’d be real curious to see how the framboise evolved so differently.