Girardin Gueuze Black Label

Cloudy amber with thin head. While I can see why some people could love it, it was too sour for me. Reminded me of vitamin C...

Wow, well the wonderful world of lambic keeps throwing me curveballs. The more I try, the more I learn that no 2 are alike, not even close to being alike! This one poured a dirty yellow-gold, with a big creamy head. Aroma featured an initial burst of pickled green olive juice, but settled down to hint at some wet straw and wet horse, maybe some malt vinegar. The flavor was more olive juice up front, lightly sweet - somewhat sweeter than many other gueuzes I’ve tried, but it moved toward a drying finish. Acidic and very tart, some lemon juice flavors - but not the most sour and I found this slight, smooth and drinkable.

Thanks to EDA for bringing this to the NYRBG - this has to be one of the finest lambics that has ever touched my lips - the aroma defines earthy and funky - soft on the palate, especially for such a dry beer - champaign/chardonay flavors abound, with a tiny bit of apple cider sweetness underneath that never quite breaks through the sourness, but it is certainly there - a wonderful gueuze.

thanks to cmubeerman for sharing his bottle from the map room. i’ve never had a gueze. definitely more sour than the one or two flemish sours i’ve had. this was mouth puckering. pretty carbonated. refreshing i guess?

Lemon and yeast aromas. Nice off-white head which goes down leaving a thin layer of dense foam for the rest of the glass. Slightly hazy with a bright golden-orange color. Excellent tart lemon flavors with a yeasty backbone are perfectly balanced by a rich carbonation of delicate bubbles, ending with a refreshing sour aftertaste. A perfect summertime beer, although I plan to drink it year round. With beer this good, who needs lemonade?

Following my recent and rather lauding appraisal of the familial White Label, this beer could not have built more anticipation. This unfiltered version poured an expectably hazier and denser body, but its resinous pumpkin hue was no less alluring. The white foam rapidly recedes revealing a plethora of mouth-watering scents. Fruits are more noticeable on the forefront, particularly sweet apricots, peaches and a wonderful smultron aroma that accompanies those of sour apple and pear. Some of the tangy, terroir odors of Gruyère and grass that were so strong in the White Label are present here, in an albeit diluted fashion. A malty background composed of brown sugar and toffee highlighted by vanilla and oak, give the nose a very complete and balanced feel. The flavor benefits of a comparable evolution beginning with a dry, woody, Champagne explosion on the tip of the tongue, progressively shifting to a buttery, coating mouthfeel that resonates of caramel and honey flavors, sustained by a fruitier background of cherries and lemon. Somewhat rounder, softer, perhaps a tad more sour than the White Label and with notably less funk from the cheese and spice section. Emmental is nonetheless present in the long aftertaste, accentuated by notes of pepper and toast. Another exceptional gueuze that, to my palate, rises just above its filtered sibling by virtue of an incredibly pleasing texture, though it offers a slightly different bouquet. Both are worth your effort.

Bottle bought and tasted 2006.

Pours a gorgeous apricot colored cognac forming a beautiful gradient in my glass, rimmed with a fine cicrcle of white bubbles.

Sour apple and wood on the aroma, hints of funk, hints of mustiness. The flavor is magnificant... ahhh.....lemon juice aged in oak barrels, rounding out dry, tannic, almost lactic.. Impressively tart and dry, fresh grapefruit, just hints of the barnyard character, exceptionally refreshing in very small sips.

A fine warm-afternoon sipper, watching the France-Spain world cup match. This one deserves its stellar reputation. 8/5/9/4/16=4.2

Bottle; sour tasting at Naked City 8/6/09. This was a close second to Cantillon St .Lamvinus as the beer of the night, and perhaps tops that one out in complexity and depth though not perhaps in drinkability. It’s superb; strong sparkly tart lemon, prickly and spiced and so clean. Interesting experiment for the future: this one vs. Cantillon’s gueuze. I’d probably go 8/5/9/5/17=4.4. I’ll split the difference.

Dull gold murky appearance – nice head however, the head lasts fairly long– nose is sour apples, over ripe yellow apples very sharp and a little barn yard – medium body – initial taste is sweet/sour then turns acidic, and sour green apples, a little gasoline - aftertaste is acidic yet same sweet/sour taste