Hanssens Mead the Gueuze

Formerly brewed at Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Mead
Dworp, Belgium

Serve in Snifter, Stem glass

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From ZDK’s tasting. Strange beer. The aroma is sweet, honey, fruit. The appearance is slightly hazy amber, off-white head. The flavor is sweet, honey, funk. The finish is a bit sour, fruit, honey. Medium in body. Good overall.

Bottle at a tasting at Matt’s place. Pours a lightly hazed amber brown with a thin white head. Loads of oxidization and old plums, candied prunes and soft sweetness. Raisins, plums, sweet and tangy. Long tart oxidized finish, old plum candy, light metal.

Bottle shared by Puzzl at Zach and Matt’s 4/20 tasting. Pours dark caramel. No head. Nose and taste of caramel, candi and dark sugars, sock fermented old fruit, honey and dirt/earth. Medium body.

Bottle shared by Andy at Zach & Matt’s tasting. Don’t know the vintage but it was obviously fairly old. Pours dirty yellow and completely flat (big suprise). Aroma is dirty fruit and old bottled faro sugar. Taste is a balance of tartness and honey. Slightly sweet and slightly tart. Mouthfeel is very light and not syrupy at all. Interesting.

Received from a generous BA. I have been intrigued by this for awhile, couldnt wait to finally open it. This has been sitting in my fridge for a little while now and I’ve been apprehensive about opening it because it has a ton of white floating stuff at the top of the beer in the bottle. Opened the bottle to a very small pop and the beer poured a still orange brown in color and had some white floating stuff on the surface despite a careful pour. Nose is probably the highlight of the beer to me. It has some sharp lemon, solvent, and soft sweetness to it. The mead is actually a nice complement to the sharpness of the gueuze. Flavor isn’t all too impressive, it’s reminscent of an unblended lambic with a sweet finish. The flavor is watery and the lemon is pretty muted. It is slightly oxidized as well. Light mouthfeel, gentle acidity, no carbonation, and a short, abrupt finish. I was thankful to experience this, but this isn’t something I would revisit. Still, it’s a cool and unique concept from Hanssens.

bottle at akkurat. nice sour and funk! but the honey comes trough and really makes it sweet although it’s not sweet at all when you taste it! the honey just is there in a nice way! good beer a must have!

Finally got to try my #1 most wanted beer! FINALLY!!!!! Thanks so much Adam!! So, poured into Adam’s Drie Fonteinen tumbler, out on his back porch in the Montana sunshine. Pours hazy deep gold; thin white head, poor lacing. Nose is clean and earthy: really nice fresh lemon and salt, with apricot, funk, tea. Really amazed how clean this is for a decade-old Hanssens, I kinda thought it would either be flat or an abomination, but this is lovely! Flavours of white peach, salt, sweat, REALLY full-bodfied, like a Mead, perfumed in the mouth as well. Spectacularly dry, and so thick and bizarrely heavy, but so tart that it can’t help but be refreshing. Wonderful stuff!

Bottle at Akkurat. It pours hazy orange, with a quickly dissipaiting white head. The nose is honey, apricot, tangerine, orange blossom and marzipan. The taste is tangy orange, grapefruit, kumquat, lemon, light honey, poached pear and a touch of butter with a tart finish. Medium body and fine, prickly carbonation. A great experimental sour mead.

Old bottle of Mead the Gueuze that I finally got around to opening up. A: Slightly hazy golden-orange body. Not a single bubble -- the way only Hanssens can do! S: Light lambic must with a bit of oak. A dose of vinegar and a lemon-honey sweetness that was the obvious influence of the mead. T: Musty, funky oak, lemon acidity, white vinegar, cough-drop like sweetness. Generally, this tasted a little "stale" -- perhaps too much age on this. M: Dead flat. But I didn’t mind the stillness. Semi-dry finish. High, but not blistering acidity. O: A unique brew, even for a Hanssens’ creation,

Big thanks to Ryan for stashing a pour for me. 375mL poured into a blank geuze tumbler. Pours a light gold with fine sediment, very low carb. Honey, light funk, and a bit of lemon...smell is mellow and unique. This is a great balance of sweet mead and funky lambic. Blend seems closer to 50/50, offering a diminished, lactic sourness paired with a delicate and dry mead. Mouthfeel is thin, a bit watery, and finishes quite dry. Mellow, easy to throw back, but a bit past it’s prime in my opinion.