St. Louis Gueuze

Brewed by Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Ingelmunster, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

Head is initially large, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy medium amber, moderate density of small and medium sized particles. Aroma is moderately yeasty (cobwebs), lightly hoppy (flowers), lightly malty (toasted light bread), with notes of straw and honey. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, creamy texture, lively carbonation, lightly astringent. A little too sweet, and the aroma isn’t especially gueuze-like. The assertive bitterness in the flavor profile is a bit odd for the style but it’s not something I dislike.

I once ate some Polish dish with sausage, cabbage and prunes. I did not like either the Polish dish nor this beer very much.

Sour, tart, light oak aroma. Orange/amber colour, off-white frothy head, good lace. Starts sweet and sour, light oak, sourness disappear quickly. Little bitterness in the finish.

Bottle. Sweet-sour musty hay/barnyard malt aroma. Clear amber with large white head. Sweet musty hay flavor. Fairly weak. Pretty average for a sweetened (nontraditional) gueuze.

(37.5 cl bottle at Café 3 Små Rum, Göteborg) BB 08-2008. On April 18, 2008. Clear pale golden color, big white head. Acidic, apple, nutty scent. Sweet, lactic, slight acidic taste. Smooth mouthfeel, low bitterness. Apple and apricot sweet aftertaste. Taste more like a Faro than a Lambic - gueuze to me.

UPDATED: AUG 24, 2005 Bottle (375ml corked). I can’t say I’ve had a good, *real* Gueuze, so can’t speak definitively. Pours a slightly hazy orange, massive foamy rocky head, very lively to start but quickly flattens - very nice lacing. Aroma quite sour (sour wine), with maltiness, oranges, pineapple, fresh-cut wood resin, and a lot of yeast - it’s a bit bitter on my nose, so I guess hops too. If mine was skunky, I couldn’t pull that odor out above the sourness. Not unpleasant, actually. Flavour is VERY sour, and not in a good way - sour wine, sour milk, sour stale malt, sour mash (grain) - aftertaste of weak expired citrus cocktail. Very flat and acidic mouthfeel, light (thank you!) on palate and not much linger. I was expecting to be challenged based on the taste, but what a let-down. Pass. 10/20 for looks and smell ONLY.

From a 375 ml corked and caged bottle courtesy of pintbypint. The body is a light orange color. The head is white and huge. The aroma is apple cider and some honey sweetness. There are also some herbal notes. The taste is a tame white grape juice. There is also an apple cider character with a hint of cinnamon. A subtle and interesting versoin of the style. However, I would like a little more character of sourness.

Almost clear dark blonde body topped by a white ring of foam. Initial flavour of rotten apple and corn syrup paves the way to an unpleasant dry and sandy finish. What the hell is that sugary sweetness doing in a gueuze. Mouth drying tartness that is so pleasant in real gueuzes is replaced here by a plastic flavour. I did a quick “advanced search” in ratebeer to see where the St-Louis Gueuze ranks in the Lambic-Gueuze category. Seeing it pretty much at the bottom was about as surprising as learning that the dude with the red uniform on a Star Trek away mission is gonna get killed.