Girardin Gueuze Black Label

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

750ml bottle@Kristiansand lambic festival. Hazy golden body with a medium white head. Aroma is bubbling fresh, acid and fruit – complex. Flavor is also complex, its sour, acid, fruity and somehow some kind of a balanced sweetness. The main impression is very sour but this is becoming more balanced after a few more sips. This is a complete geuze that for sure will mature very well and become extraordinary.

The first glass is a clear deep peach colour, with a massive, soft, white foamy head. Subsequent glasses obviously get a cloudier and cloudier as the yeast mixes in. The initial aroma hints at sourness with that typical wild fermenting fruit nose. The first mouthfull hits with a bang as your tongue is assailed by a slightly dirty sourness and the sharp bite of heavy carbonation. The palate difficult to discern beyond the sourness but there is a fruitiness to the acidity and a touch of wood, which I’m sure would open up as you become accustomed to the acid. Has a very pleasant mouthfeel, thanks to the heavy carbonation making sure the flavour fills every part of your mouth. Clean and very dry finish. Thanks heaps to Mullet for sharing this with me!

Bottle in pint glass. Pours slight hazy orange with small white head that leaves a lasting ring and no lacing. Aroma of hay, lemons, and sweat. Very tart starting flavor of old lemons and (what I believe to be ) horseblanket. Very dry finish that leaves tartness in the throat. Medium high carbonation. Extremely complex, refreshing, and an excellent example of the style. Wow.

Bottled. Hazy orange colour, small white head. Aroma is enormously sour fruits with some nice yeasty and slightly acidic notes. Flavour is dry, sour fruits and very pleasant. Mouthdrying, but also refreshing.

Bottle. Average fizzy white head that mostly diminished. Fair lacing. Light cloudy amber colour with particles in flow. Heavy fruit notes with pear, peach apple and some dusty notes as well. Some underlying vinegar and citrus can be felt. Medium to full bodied with an average carbonation. Flavour was moderated sour with some sweet notes as well. Nice dry and sour finish.

Bottle. 09/05. Pours hazy orange. Small creamy white head. Interesting aroma: funk, sour, sulphur, bleu cheese, musty attic, wet hay, fruit beginning to rot (these are all good aromas). Quite firm on the palate. Bracingly sour and yeasty flavor. Finishes incredibly dry.

Is not sulphur and rubber like other "gueuze" beer, but is fruity like drinking Belgium beer with apples. I will drinking many bottles in Belgium beer tour but is also not trappist. Not sugar beer again and there are no hops.

Nice copper color with a lemony-sour flavor. Faintly musty and barny, and the tartness is controlled, making this a complex but relatively melow and drinkable oude gueuze. Certainly refreshing, and a heavenly combo with my escaveche.