Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait

Brewed by Brouwerij F. Boon
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Lembeek, Belgium

Clear orange body. Nose is orange and pinapple bret notes, also cigar tobaccos and black pepper. Flavour is goats milk, pinapple, black pepper and oak. There is a subtle hopiness that complements some citric acidity. Mouth is nice and tart with a drying hop component. With food, even as simple as a cracker, the palate diminishes significantly, making this quite bland.

375ml bottle. Best By date January 1, 2025. Sampled May 2006
Pours a brilliantly clear, gold leaning, reddish copper color. The head is frothy, fairly large bubbled and an off white color. The head is held up by an ample, though in no way explosive carbonation. The aroma is definitely tart with bits of funk running throughout. A woody, sort of tannic astringent note begins the aroma, it then picks up notes of lactic acid, hints of urea, and perhaps even a bit of an enteric note. The aroma says this beer is the full on real deal, I would love for the regular boon products to have this complexity. The aroma evokes thoughts of funky, woody mushrooms, and even some notes from a funky, ripe farmhouse cheese. This beer does not have the full on funkiness of some Gueuzes, but does have the full complement of restrained aromatic funk to it.

The beer is light and tart up front. The beer is fairly cold at the beginning and not nearly as funky as the nose might suggest. Soft notes of tart grapefruit accent the acid notes, and there is even a soft fruitiness here that reminds me of something like strawberries. Perhaps it is strawberries, it is something fleeting, but definitely with a light fruit sweetness that is almost a mirage to the sense of taste. The finish has a long, certainly tannic, seemingly oaky astringent note to it that just sort of hangs out on the palate after the beer has passed down the throat. As the beer warms the fruitiness picks up a bit, almost like a seriously tart, yet quite aromatic apple (imagine a perfectly ripe mackintosh with much of it’s sweetness missing).

While I find Lambics, even the hard ones quite drinkable, this one is definitely on the drinkable side. The acidity, for a Lambic, is not that prominent and the seriously funky entero-bacterial notes are quite muted, if not non-existent in the taste. This beer is seriously drinkable despite the 8% alcohol label on the beer. While I could certainly wish for more complexity, this is a perfectly drinkable Gueuze, one which I am happy to be the new owner of 6 bottles. This is also a big step above the Boon Fruit Lambics, though I must admit that, oddly enough, the last batch of Oude Geuze Boon seemed a touch more complex than this bottle. Given this one sample size so far, I would say that on average this is one of the more complex Boon products.

<font size=-4>Purchased: <a href=http://www.58degrees.com/>58 Degrees & Holding Co., Tucson, AZ<font size=-1>

37,5 cl bottle. Golden clear colour with a nice white head. Aroma of wine, sour acidity, very fresh. Nice flavour, little sour and yearty. Very refreshing and ends up with notes of oak.

Poured clear golden with a frothy white head. The flavor was tangy yet slightly sweet.

Poured an almost clear golden color with an off-white head. The tart aroma smelled sweaty (like from a body) with a fair amount of lemon. The flavor was sweet and sour with yeasty funk mixed in. Notes of apples. Semi-dry finish.

Bottle. 375ml. Best Before 26.1.2025. Pours a Brilliant copper color with some crazy carbonation bubbles. Here’s a beer I could sit and WATCH for hours! The head threaten to spill over the glass even with a very slow pour. Aromas of flowers, citrus, apples, must, and cobwebs. Lightly tart and very dry. Flavors of grass, straw and apples. This has more bitterness than most gueuzes. Despite the dryness there’s a fleeting sweetness somewhere in the middle of the taste. The light flavor grows on me as I continue through the glass. Very nice- I’m going outside to sit on the patio and finish this.

golden yellow clear color, lots of fizz up the center. frothy tall foamy white head. aroma is tart, yeasty, sweet green apple. honey too. flavor is dry, yeasty, astringent, and - ferrous?? bitter greens too. finish is a little musty but cleans quickly.

Bottle. Cloudy amber color with a medium white head. Nice aroma, pretty pungent, sour apples, salty, acidic. Flavor isn’t carroed across quite as well, what is there is still nice, pretty funky with some cheese and apple again. Medium bodied, lacks the nice sour mouth-puckering feel, also not very acidic. The alcohol is well hidden though, I hadd no idea this was 8% until I was half done with the bottle. Pretty nice beer though, if not the greatest gueuze.