Oud Beersel Oude Geuze

OK so I like the stuff. I really don’t want to get into the whole description thing here, just pay my extreme homemage to one of the best breweries IMHO to ever exist. Fare Ye Well.... Well the ratings cops busted me and I gotta put down how beautiful the pour was, with amazing hues and champagne like head. The up front bitterness followed by increasing sourness and the classic gueze finish...dry baby dry. Aromas of a little barnyard in my underwear everywhere.

BB 2022 (=> bottled 2002?) Clear pale gold with a very good dimply head (excellent for the style). Massive bretty aroma quite similar to Orval but more intense - fetta, nappies, cider, pineapple, toasty, cheesy, stale hops, sesame seeds. leather and vomit. The aroma in particular is absolutely amazing - I can’t imagine a beer smelling any better. The flavour takes a little longer to open up as the beer comes to room temperature - starts with (again) Orvalesque river stones, soda water and grassiness. No sweetness shows through but it’s apparent that some malt is left behind in the way everything balances, a light sourness is countered by a beautiful leafy, cheesy bitterness. As it warms the sourness comes through more but never dominates - it’s more the quality or character of the sourness, rather than the intensity, which really does it. It’s fizzy initially but when that dies down it reveals a relatively full body. Sensational stuff. It couldn’t have been easier to drink. I would have taken better notes only I wanted to just enjoy the experience and not think about it too much. Not the crazy-sour stuff I usually go for, but this is even better. I was shocked how similar this is to Orval, actually, only this is far more intense. Amazing (did I already say that?) I can’t believe this brewery is no more...

Bottle. Hazy amber colour with a large white head. Huge aroma of sour champagne, with some cheese/barnyard in the background. Flavours are sour, fruity, some sweetness - it’s like an idealised form of champagne - although one shouldn’t cheapen this magnificent beer by comparison to that inferior offering. Complex and well balanced. Outstanding.

Glorious. Amazing. Balanced. Why did they stop brewing? A truly tragic loss. I have to go buy their kriek now.

Sampled 45-50 deg in flute. Another outstanding sampling from this brewery, but not as lovely as the kriek. A near perfect beer but I think I prefer the added complexity of the fruit in the kriek. Marvelous fruity aroma in this one though, a touch of peach and apricot and perfume. I told my fiance that if she had a perfume the smelled like this, I'd kiss her all the time. Refreshing effervescence in a lightly tart, lightly sweet flavor with light fruitiness. Pale goldish color with medium fading head.