Girardin Gueuze Black Label

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

Dark clear coppery orange that left big dark sediment stuck to the bottom of the bottle and only a little slips in. A few fingers of foamy puffy white head form. Big musty barnyard aroma, lemon acidity and taste is tart, strong sour acidity, funky battery acid and a biting light cherry woodiness. Love this stuff.

Pours a gorgeous golden orange with a lacey white head. Smells, of acidity, and oranges. A little funk in there too. Tastes of sour tannins, lemons, other citrus fruits. Not over the top acidic, but enough to keep you on your toes. Goes down real easy though. Very refreshing, I could drink this beer all the time.

Sampled at In De Wildeman in Amsterdam, Holland. Golden. Smells traditional and quite fragrent. Grapefruit, lemon, oak, cherries and lambic funk. Strong, dry and superb. Grapefruit in the backround throughout which leads to orange and then a strong, lingering and spicy finish. This was a lovely tasting Gueuze. Superb.

Amber gold appearance, creamy white head, and spotty and webbed lacing. Aromas are sour and funky fruits. Spicy tail. It does what a good gueuze should: offends. So damned smooth at the end though. Flavor is bitter and dusty. Cobwebby. Apples and grapes. Sour and barnyardy. Very mellow. Sharp bite of sourness in the palate as well as being dry. Coats the mouth pleasantly

375 ml bottle, thanks to slob for ths beauty as a bonus! Pours light orange with a slight haze and a moderate off-white head that slowly diminished to a ring around the rim. Aroma is complex and mysterious - sour fruits, dry and vinous, sweat and funk, oak and wet wool. Flavor is also complex and changes as it warms, tart and dry overall, but with tiny hints of sweetness at moments, champage-like with young oak and tannic notes, also an astringent funk and quince in the finish. Light to medium body with very fine and delicate carbonation. After a visit to Belgium my tastes are maturing and I’m able to enjoy these wild-fermentation wonders. Again many thanks to Bert for sending this my way.

Cork popped and rapid foam streamed out of the bottle. Quickly poured into a tumbler. Horseblanket with hazy cider appearance. Thin, constant head. Sour, bitter taste -- like sour patch kid without the sweet turn. Citrus rinds. Fizzy with a lasting sour finish. Refreshing

750ml bottle, hazy honey gold hue, with a white head, nice corbanation, with some horseblanket, barnyard notes in the nose, revealing a fruity accent of sour rhubard, and green apples, with a wet oakiness, a good tart and acidic, funky mustiness aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a wonderful lambic fruity tartness and sourness character, with a zesty acidic accent, note of wet hay, and oakiness, leading towards a tart, acidic dry finish. Maybe not quite enough sharp for me, but nevertheless, a very unique beer, for a very unique style.

Update: 4.5 months later and I was ready for the overflow - the body here is fantastic! Rich and soooper cheesy! Shared one with Hey_K and Frank on 5/24/03. Delicious. Well, Ben Franklin was right...haste does indeed make waste. I unpacked this baby, set it in the fridge for 30 mins...but that wasn"t enough. It exploded all over me and my apartment. I rescued approx. 125 ml out of 375 ml, and now everything in my apartment smells like gueuze. Black label. Very cloudy, dark yellow. Aroma is exceptionally woody, even more so than Hanssens (!), yet ameliorated by subtle fruitiness (grapeskin, sour apple). Flavors are tart, of course, but with a lot of wood and understated funky cheese. Outstanding....but I want to resample when the wares aren’t dripping off of me.