Hanssens Mead the Gueuze

Formerly brewed at Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Mead
Dworp, Belgium

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.

The Lure:
Old dusty corks lying amongst green apples. Mold is growing on them of course. This just doesn’t blend well with the honey, imho.

The Festivities:
Flowery honey seeping through musty, citrusy tartness and dryness. Gums are left with dusty remnants of this chaotic collision, but thankfully everything cuts short. What a horrible idea.

Transcendence:
Absurdity can be entertaining, but only for a few seconds.

aroma is acidic vinegar. pours a cloudy yellow. i tasted the sour, but little else. the palate was thick, yet sparkly, so at least something was going on here.

(bottle) I kind of expected that this mead/lambic blend would be disgusting. I was right. Probably the nastiest thing that’s touched my tongue in years.

Bottle: Experianced the same exploding cap, look out. Pours champagne golden, well carbonated, big white foamy head which diminishes fully. Aromas of barnyard, with lighter white grapes, you can smell the tartness. Flavor was lightly sweet, with limited tartness (surprisingly, was this from the 30% mead?), finishes with grapes and spice with an increasing bitterness. Lively mouthfeel.

I managed to get this one open without the cork exploding off the bottle. Poured out extremely lively with champagne like carbonation that was white and dissipating. Pours light gold (once you can see the actual beer amidst all the foamy carbonation). Smell is of apples, honey and some minor notes of grapefruit. Taste is surprisingly mild and lacking the usual abrasive tartness associated with a gueuze. Finish is sweet with some cantalope and honey shining through.

Upon loosening the cage, the cap just skyrocketed, still unfound, happily with no over flow. Poured light gold with a quickly dissapearing head. Aroma is tart apples and spicy pepper. Taste is the same with barnyard and mellow honey.

holy shit. the cork popped off so violently i spilled three quarters of it on the floor and my lap. but on the bright side my carpet and chair and pants smell pretty good. from what i have left it smells pretty sour kind of like sweat. the taste is sweet and sour and the color of sweet and sour sauce come to think of it. not bad i will have to buy this again and hold on a little tighter to the bottle.