Chapeau Cuvée

Brewed by Brouwerij De Troch
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Ternat-Wambeek, Belgium

Hazy pale yellow, no head. Aroma from cork, yeast, rubber, rather dry. Flavor is fruity but also from rubber, sourish apples and citrus.

Bottle- THANKS MULLET!. Surprisingly OK froma brewer i have had nothing but bad experiences from. This is quite authentic it has to be said, relatively dry and a nice quenching sourness on the finish. The aroma is even a bit smelly/barnyardy, which is a good thing. Lemony, slightly spritzy mouthfeel. tart, earthy. Well balanced, but perhaps a touch thin. Drinkable stuff.

Best before 06/2004, bottle from Mr. Gueuze himself, Jacob Lovenlund. Sampled on 8/20/2005 with Eyedrinkale. Pours a respectable cloudy, heavily sedimented tangerine-to-deep lemon orange/yellow. Pretty bright and colorful for a gueuze. A thin film of white bubbles is coaxed from the bottle, lasting no more than a few minutes. Touch of lacing in streaks on the glass. Aroma has sharp, oily, leather tannins, dry and sour, with some grapefruit, lemons and sweet-like barnyard notes. I’m beginning to take these barnyard notes as sweet, though I know there’s no sugar in there, it has that leathery, robust sourness, which you can almost pass off as moderately sweet. Or maybe I just think too much about gueuze. Ahem, moving on, the flavor begins with a big shot of sour bacteria, followed up by a flavor that I can most closely approximate as a near flat mumosa with a touch of vanilla and tannins. Liquid begins to coat, leaving an old, tired bacterial flavor on the edges of the mouth, that struggles with sourness and is washed away in the end. Carbonation in the form of pretty big sized bubbles, nearly spent at this age (though it’s not that young). Certainly no sparkling lambic here. A tad bit heavy on the tongue, it is rather loose from the near flatness. But what saves it is the total lack of any "fake lambic" flavors in it. You arent going to mistake this stuff for Cantillon or 3F, but you also arent going to mistake it for one of the cheap imitation, sugary "lambics". Respectable, I will reiterate, with a good sour, lightly citric flavor, nice oily tannins and then a fairly short finish. At the end of the glass, after warming fully to room temp, I thought I began to notice some of the light powderiness that I hate in the fake lambics, but I quickly finished off my glass, and chalked it up to just my imagination! Thanks Jacob!

Cloudy orange color with a small head. Aroma is moldy sour citrus. Taste is stanky ass cheese and tart lemons. Thin bodied but the flavors that are in there are pretty good. Thanks to Clark for sharing this bottle.

vintage 1996: a very winey aroma, cloudy golden color, no head. falvor is a bit tart with a very sour afterbite. a nice touch of fizz in the mouth. not a lot more going on.

2005 Lambic Festival at Deliah’s Chicago (sample of a 1996, 750 mL bottle): Mostly clear, shinning yellow with a consistent stream of bubbles feeding a thin white ring. Tart, “cobwebby” aromatics with some acidic lemonade and strawberries. Puckering flavours of tart lemon rinds, cracked wheat and limestone. Not quite as deep and complex as some others, but my mouth is watering for more anyway. Okay.

1996. Clear, bright yellow with a small, thin ring of white bubbles. Lots of leather in the nose, tart wheat with a touch of sweetness. Leather, wood and barnyard are apparent as well. The body is sufficient, especially considering the age. The flavors are OK, but not as good as the nose. A seemingly artificial sweetness comes out that gives an unable aspect to the flavor profile. It makes the tart elements less enjoyable. Not exceptional.

Vintage 1996: This was just a tad too funky for my beginning lambic drinker’s tastes. Hazy yellow with a decent head, it’s got a really strong barnyard aroma observed on a hot, humid day. The sourness decomes more of a decayed smell. Flavor-wise, not too bad, a yeasty and acidic taste over all. The finish returns to the skunk. I’ll try this again another time.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve Fest at Delilah’s, Chicago, IL 06/04/2005<font size=-1>