Hanssens Mead the Gueuze

Formerly brewed at Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Mead
Dworp, Belgium

Bottle said 9% ABV. Light tart, light honey aroma. Hazy, yellow/amber color, white rocky head, no lace. No strong flavors, medium body, not very special, alcohol well hidden. Just gueuze with honey.

Pours a hazy gold color with a medium even white head. Lacing is minimial. Aroma is wine-like, funky and sour. Also some honey notes as well...wait that’s exactly what it should smell like. Anyway, the flavor is slightly sour with some horse blanket hay involved. The honey sweetness really comes through on the swallow. ScottVacula really hits the nail on the head. Like a mullet, business in the front (gueuze) and party in the back (mead). Well, it’s more the other way around but whatever. I rather liked this beer.

This brew pours with a golden-orange body topped by a thick, fizzy, white head with some lacing. The aroma is tart and sour with a slight barnyard note and a slight vinious note. The flavor is tart and sour with a slight underlying sweetness, and a little barnyard. The finish is slightly sweet with notes of honey. This brew starts out like a gueuze and finishes a mead. very unique. Medium bodied, tingly from the carbonation, dry and slightly warming.

One touch of the cork and pop! it was all over me in one fizzy gush. Full geuze aroma all over my arm! FULL white head, hard to control. A light amber golden color. Taste is incredible tart, from the geuze, but then with a metallic sweetness that reminded me of the coppery metal taste associated with blood. Odd. Not too bad, but I wouldn’t drink it around the house.

Golden color with a big thin head. Aroma of sourness and malt. Flavor is really sour with some honey. Acidic with strong carbonation. Some bitterness in the finish.

12.7 oz bottle, goblet. Wow self-opening! A real cork popper! Copious, frothy, white head sits upon a deep golden body with effervescent carbonation. Smells just like a mead and a gueuze! Go figure! For arguements sake: grain and light bread malt(L); barnyard/leather yeast aroma (M); white wine and LOTS of honey. 30% mead is right on for balancing the aroma. Moderately sweet, moderately acidic, heavily sour flavor becomes a lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately sour finish. A very nice taste combination. The sweetness of the mead, stands up well to the tartness of the lambic. Medium body, oily texture, lively carbonation. The bottom line is: not exactly the gueuze or mead I would have chosen to mix, but hey, I like it!

Approximately half the bottle was lost by the foam cascading out of the bottle when I opened the cork -- fool that I was, I didn’t have a glass handy when I opened it. Cloudy amber body, with a white head that ultimately dissipated to just a trace. Aroma is strongly barnyard sour, with some honey. Taste begins acidic and carbonated, reveals the barnyard sourness and strong tartness of the gueuze, but is softened significantly by the honey of the mead. Some fruity (peach, cherry) and herbal flavors as well. Don’t be fooled though -- it’s still a gueuze, and anyone who doesn’t like such beasts should stay far away from this one. Acidic, highly carbonated, tart, light-medium body.

Sour gueuze flavor, with very slight hints of cherries, and a lingering honey aftertaste. Overall very mild and pleasant to drink. Thanks to slikwily for this one.