Girardin Gueuze Black Label

Absolutely fantastic. One of the best Gueuzes I’ve ever had. Perfectly dry and acidic, without being overly sour or vinegar like. Great sour apple and sharp cheese notes throughout. Beautiful brett. Sparkling carbonation. Simply a masterpiece in the world of Wild Beers.

37,5cl bottle. Pours deep orange with a thin white fizzy head. Big lambic aroma. Captain Brett to the rescue! Other aromas include: lemon, wood, tropical citrus, some grapes even. Lots of sweettart in the aroma. Flavor is very tart, like biting into a juicy piece of citrus. As it warms the presence of tannins become for present in the flavors. Light smoke flavor on the palate in the distant finish, kinda like a finer wine. This is a well deserved #1 Gueuze.

Big sweet-tart like brett nose with hints of grapefruit, pineapple and a light smoke. Flavor is acidic but not overwhelming, flavors are balanced with citrus with a crisp white wine (grape) like finish reminiscent of a citrusy Sauv Blanc.

Bottled. Vibrant, effervescent, cloudy pale/orange appearance. Nose is barnyard funk, citrus, lemon, wood. Flavor is very well rounded among the above with touch of sour grapes. Comes close to making your pucker up, but not quite. I’m still getting accustomed to the gueuze style. Due to the high cost and availability, I haven’t had the chance to try too many. Having said that, I enjoyed this one mightily.

375 ml bottle from Holiday. Pours a cloudy, unfiltered orange color with a small white head that fades quickly leaving lacing in the glass. The aroma is medium-light in strength with citrus and musty grapes. The flavor is complex starting with a sour/tart sensation in the forefront featuring grapes, citrus and oak. Rounding out the side is lemon grass, and completing the palate there is a touch of yeasty biscuit. The mouthfeel is silky smooth with lively carbonation and an astringent quality that really works here. The finish is long with more musty grapes and the astringency giving way to grapefruit. Overall: My first traditional gueuze tasting and a quite memorable one. Recommended.

A mid-sized frothy white trickles away slowly but only fades a bit. Webbed lacing leaves tracks all over the glass. A careful pour unleashes a great deep golden amber body with a slight haze. A steady stream of evenly dispersed visible carbonation aggresively piles upward. The nose is like no other sour beer on Earth, sour and funky with such inviting fruitiness that centers around apple and pear. If ever a standard for lovely barnyard funkiness, that any inexperienced drinker could grow accustomed to, were to be defined, this would have to be it. Straw, wet grass and leather envelope horseblanket notes that grow ripe and musty as warmth increases. Acetic traits are vibrant in the nose but mostly just lend to the allure of the entirety of the aroma. Yeast is provacative and hearty, infiltrating each whiff from start to finish. The flavor is highly acidic, mildly to moderately acetic, with a funk note that turns into raging mustiness halfway through. Horseblanket notes arrive again, sticking around for the duration. Sweetness is low to mild and intermittent. Lemon notes and lactic undercurrents add to the multi-dimensional intricacies of the flavor. The mouthfeel is highly carbonated, very silky and light-medium bodied, absurdly smooth and agreeable. The finish is funky, slowly drying with a touch of cedary woodiness and lingering salty fuink and must. A benchmark for a true but easygoing gueuze.

Pours the color of an authentic orange marmalade. Aroma is classic funky lambicness, yes I made that word up. Hay, earth, grapefruit candy, just what I like in this style. Flavor is initially tart, yielding to a sublime finish. Some oak tempers the sour, bringing this beer into a sharp focus.

Bottle: Cloudy deep orange with a fading white head. Huge horseblanket aroma. Earthy, with damp hay, old wood, just a classic wild fermentation funk. Not much carbonation in the body. Flavor has a lemon-rind tartness upfront followed by some vinegar-like characteristics and some old dried woodiness. Later one it gives off a bone dryness, and a very late lactic funk at the back of the tongue. A solid, funky Lambic.