Girardin Gueuze White Label

Brewed by Brouwerij Girardin
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Sint Ulriks-Kapelle, Belgium

Robe dorée très claire surmontée d’une mousse blanche épaisse en dentelle qui persiste. Arômes acides de liège et de fruits. Saveurs acides d’agrumes, de fruits et de fleurs.

Bottle. Dark gold and orange with an off-white head. Aromas are tart lemon and green apples with wood. Hints of musty soft cheese and dry yeastiness. Flavours are zest and juice of lemon with woody dry notes. Cheesy and agricultutral towards the finish. Very refreshing.

Aroma:Citrus sour.... Appearance:Light hazy orange,small white head... Flavor:Sour of a green apple and acidity of a grapefruit......

Bottle: Poured a clear orangey/yellow color lambic with a huge pure white foamy head with perfect retention. Aroma of sourness, oak, some funkyness and green apples. Taste has some sweetness to balance the sourness and the oak characteristic. Mix between green apples, light acidity and the funkyness is pretty close to perfection. The fact that this version is supposed to be inferior to the unfiltered version make me crave (the black label) even more.

An absolutely magnificent gueuze, the clear pomegranate body glints of oscillating pinkish and blazing orange hues beneath a light beige mousse that dwindles to a thin bubbly film circumscribed by an austere ring. The nose immediately reminds of sour fruits, particularly apple and mouth-watering cherries. Champagne, white grapes, orange and dragées are also present suggestive of a certain sweetness that binds the strong terroir odors of cheese and spices. Gorgonzola and sharp Gruyère form a distinctive musty aroma associated with those of ham and pepper that leave me salivating before my glass. The first contact with the tongue reveals a dry carbonation, flavors of Champagne and grapefruit which rapidly flow into a much sweeter, almost sticky sensation of apple juice, acacia honey, oak and wet straw. The finish is dusty and dry, leading to a triumphant aftertaste that coats the palate and lingers with fantastic complexity. Soft cow cheeses are very present, reminding particularly of Emmental and Chimay à la bière especially in its grassy apricot notes. I actually had a center cut of Emmental on the side and the match was simply divine - my taste buds are piqued by the thought alone. I was amazed to find it widely considered the "lesser" version of the Black Label, though I should mention my bottle was well aged (a few months past its best before date), which may have contributed to its wonderful pungency. A truly exquisite beer.

Pours hazy gold with white head. Smells of sour apples and grapes. There is also a sweet grain, hay, hoppy aroma. The flavor is mainly sour with a dry finish.

375ml bottle, vintage unknown
Consumed at In De Wildeman, Amsterdam, May 2006
Very sweet, mildly tart and "peppery" more than sour. Some sweet orange and pear flavors are evident. Overall it’s a decent sweet gueze, refreshing at the very least, but this does not satisfy my gueze cravings at all. For that I need the real thing.

Bottle. White lasting head. Powerful sour apple aroma. Sour apple flavor. Pleasantly carbonated. Very refreshing.