Timmermans Tradition Gueuze Lambic

Brewed by Timmermans (John Martin)
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Itterbeek, Belgium

(Bottled) Slightly hazy golden with a medium, lacy head. Neutral aroma with wheaty maltiness, some apple vinegar, and sugar. Fruity apple-wheaty flavor with some lambic sourness, although ruined with sugar. Medium body, soft carbonation, a bit sticky-sugary. Balance is ok for a sugared lambic, but this lacks all the complexity of the real stuff. In 2004 this was too sour for me, but now it’s too sugary...

Typical gueuze aroma, only lacking some oak. Bit fruity, soury, little tart. Cloudy, golden/yellow coloured with a lasting thin white head. Taste is fruity, bit sour, tart and quite sweet. Lacking complexness.

Bottle, at the Swan and Rushes, Leicester. Excellent gueuze - full, sour flavour balanced with reassuring, peachy sweetness. Lovely rosy colour, but no head. Citric sharpness leaves a nail varnish sensation on your tongue.

bronze colour, fine head and a nice lace, vinous and tart, rhubarb aroma, slightly sweet followed by an interesting sourness, long sour finish

Golden color; nice perlage. Delicate, dry, harmonious, with vinegar notes and some malt.

complex winey nose with notes of cider and flowers, orange/straw colouration. tart, dry, cider, pears, almost like a sparkling white with cider. fantastic beer, this is my first gueuze so I cant wait to compare it to others of the style.

The apples and subtle pear nose hits you straight away in the same way that a cider does. The body is a pleasing amber/orange with a good and lasting head in the flute glass. There is a lifting fruity note that is a cross between a light German style white wine and a dry champagne like a brut. The finish is dry as expected and pleasing on the back palate with a moussy mouthfeel. Excellent residual taste of citrus and apple cider and a certainly muted hop flavour. I think the most hop presenece here is on the label. Not a criticism because this beer doesn't need to have this charater in my mind. A good drink for the summer months but the cost would be prohibitive. I could buy a good bottle of champagne for the notional $25-30 equivalent.

I really enjoyed this beer. Perhaps the style is not everybodys favourite, but the beer is certainly notable. Lovelly tangy aroma and flavour, full but dry in the mouth. If it was cheaper, I would drink more of it!