Hanssens Mead the Gueuze

Formerly brewed at Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Mead
Dworp, Belgium

Fake lemon fades to a sickly sour horror show that showers out of the bottle, gurgles in your glass, splashes wildly in your mouth and sparkles all the way down your throat. (I guess that’s what I liked about it, the carbonation!)

Not sure as to the age but I have had this for over a year. So I’d guess 1.5 to 2 years old. Poured a hazy gold with a big frothy head. Served at about 55F. Initial nose was vinigar,barnyard funk,sour green apples. After airing out for a few minutes the aroma died down. Taste was sour,slightly acidic and tart,made my mouth water. The aftertaste does linger on the tongue.There is some mild honey at first but as it breathed,that also became subdued. Interesting beer for a time you want "something completely differant"

A Mes rate: This is very very odd stuff. I am guessing that this one varies wildly because the descriptions are so different. First off the cork blew itself out of the bottle and it spewed foam out for some time until it clamed down. Initially its like a gueuze with egg and playdough added. Very very odd. Its pretty decent stuff. Typical gueuze with a flowery and sweet twist. I would like to try this again.

Green apples, cork, sour acetic aroma with an underlying musky, honey character. Hazy golden body with low, white, rapidly and fully-diminishing head. Sweet honey up front is joined by lightly tart green apple and geuze character. Strange bedfellows indeed but perhaps enjoying a little one-night stand. Very dry flavour ends abruptly leaving a lasting apple and honey aftertaste. Low carbonation with rather watery texture. A curious experiment that is perhaps not entirely successful. Bottle sampled beerbuzzmontreal, MartinT, Olivier_MTL and Rastacouere.

Eggy, corky old basement nose has weird metallic edges, vegetal and urine bite don’t contribute to approachability. Mead like honey presence, sweetish cellar taste. Clear hazy straw with a short-lasting eggy head. Old bread, musty mushrooms, spoiled honey, vinous metallic edges, sweet coughdrops. This is full of never encountered flavors. A bit chaotic, but not repelling. Surprising 9-volt battery finish, drying the back of the tonguye. Light-medium bodied, oily and sticky.

07.16.05 Bottle at BCTC. Straw colored and flat. Strong barnyard, some sour apple candy. Flat and sour. Lots of feet. Good and refreshing but the nose ain’t great and I’m not standing in line for more.

Pours a cloudy blonde color with some yeast in suspension. Strange aroma and flavor of apples and honey with a dusty lambic texture. The body is full. Interesting experiment but the blend of mead and gueuze gives a result to strange to be really enjoyable.

Des dizaines de livres de pression se libèrent violemment de la bouteille lors de son ouverture, faisant ainsi de cette bouteille, une arme plus puissante qu’une carabine à plomb. Quel étrange et contradictoire juxtaposition d’arôme. Vieille cave, herbes fraîches, miel, bois, acidité, sucre. Je finis par m’y habituer et à trouver le mélange intéressant même si balance et fusion des 2 liquides semble impossible, les 2 liquides ne travaillent pas ensemble. Certains traits sauvages d’une gueuze sont présents mais sans l’acidité habituelle. Les parfums et saveurs de miel sont omniprésents et apportent un aspect sucré au liquide. Bouteille, Charlie’s street Liquor, Boston, Juin 2005.