Hanssens Mead the Gueuze

Formerly brewed at Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Mead
Dworp, Belgium

I saw some bottles of this opened at a lambic tasting last spring - I was ready for it - but I forgot to warn my wife! Pow! "What the.." oops! Poured a hazy golden peach with a huge head and a very loud fizzy sound. Aroma is barnyard, floral and fruity sweet. This tasted about as weird as I expected it to. Started off with a crazy sour green apple cider vinegar with a thin core of honey, white pepper, floral like dandelions; and a finish that was bitter and dry - that prompted me to drink more, because the finish was the least likeable thing about this. Body was fizzy - I would’ve liked it stiller and thicker. Worth a try.

hazy yellow, quick disappating head. lambic funk and mild honey aroma with some yeast earth and lemon. flavour has some fruit, herbal funk and a little mineral and apple. a different idea, but the aromas and flavours just don’t seem to jive.

Yellow and very fizzy with large bubbled lofty head. Aroma is sour and moldy with little to no sweetness. The honey mead has a lemon twist. The yeast is quite earthy but not dank and gory. Sour but not puckering.

Hazy orange body, medium off-white head. Classic sour/musty gueze aroma with honey, white grapes, and a touch of brie cheese rind. Very sour body with cheese rind, mold, and must mingling with the honey that provided just a hint of sweetness that was overwhelmed by the sour flavors of the gueze. Yeah, a Ratebeer run-on. Long finish. A real tongue-tingler.

Split with Gusler @ Papago. Light Orange. Very aromatic, an equal balance between the sweet mead (apple) and the dry, tart traditional gueuze (lemon). Hints of peach are evident in the nose as well. A nice balance between mead and lambic, making it a less traditional but more approachable experience. Not my kind of drink though. I’d rather just have the Hanssens traditiona Gueuze.

The description of "An Ale" is confusing enough let alone being confronted with this bizzarre combination. Pours straw gold and hazy. Small bead carb. Some light brown sediment. Sea water, citric aroma with traces of skunk. Herbal grass bitter flavours. Mild luzerne honey but extremely faint. Some sour apple. Past it’s prime. Very odd.

Cork popped off very forcefully. The head on this one when poured was initially huge. But then it fades away to a small, but everpresent head. The body is a deep gold with just a hint of amber. The aroma is Granny Smith apples, vinegar and maybe a hint of cinnamon. The taste is relatively subtle. It is almost sour like a lambic, but the mead character cancels that out. The taste reminds me of a cider that is past it’s prime. A touch of vinegar and some mild apples. Overall an enjoyable experience. Just a little too subdued. The finish in the mouth is sweet and sticky. The mouthfeel while drinking is slightly carbonated and playful on the tongue.

I was unaware of the legend of the self-popping cork, fool that I am, or maybe I just forgot, but I made the mistake of pausing after inserting the screw, to get a glass of water, when, BAM!!! ---the thing shot out, opener and all, and in this case, all is my keychain, attached to the opener! Then, out wafts that certain citric, funky, musty, dank olfactory aura, even from afar. Let’s creep in for a closer inspection...That’s it, alright, lemony, sour, deep and singular, call it horse-blanket or barnyard, or sour persimmons, buster, it is what it is! Appearance: light, clear, golden color, very short, near-non-existent, pure white head, that lingers as tiny bubbles around the edges. Great effervescence, though, with bubble, constantly shooting forth. Taste: pucker, wince, grimace...swalow, sip, repeat...very dry, after that initial souring, lightly drifts off the palate, without actually losing the flavor, it remains as an echo of this sharp, yet somehow sudenly soft, character. Now, I know what’s going on, all of a sudden, and it is very intriquing: after the shock of the lambic on the palate, curling the tastebuds, the mead starts to peek through, as if calling the tongue back with the promise of sweetness and light, honey tones take over lemon, and a great blend gets going, with apple notes, too, pear and melon. Now, I like it, now it’s a thing I enjoy consuming. A very nice creation, perfect mellow desert choice, if your sweet tooth is not so predictable and sugar-bent as others.