Hanssens Oudbeitje

Brewed by Hanssens Artisanaal
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Dworp, Belgium

Bottle at ’t Bruge Beerje. Slightly hazy warm gold, rough white head that settles into a fine ring. Warm funky barnyard aroma, a barnyard with mostly dairy cows, but also with one pig, a chicken or two, and one wet sheep. Mixed in with that is a lovely perfume of dew-covered wild strawberries, beginning noble rot on the vine. Deep layers of sour with mellon and berry fruit, leather, and a bright salty finish. Nice fullness to the sourness, making this a very satisfying glass.

20070610 Spuyten Beast of the Yeast. Smells a bit smoky and dirty, maybe a touch of plasticy phenol. Earth notes. Some wet wool - distant berries. Finishes with nice berry presence and lingering sweetness.

Sampled a bottle at Brassiere Beck in Washington DC. Zero head on this cloudy golden beer. Again, that lambic funk on the aroma. The strawberries add a nice twist, strawberries and sourness don’t quite mesh. This was an interesting combo though.

Sampled at Cellar’s Wine & Spirits in St Paul, and shared by OSLO and Guerde. Cork came off with no pop. A 2006 vintage pours a hazy golden orange brew with virtually no head. Aroma of sour barnyard funk, some tart berry, a touch of sweet cheese, and some strawberries. Taste is medium bodied with hardly no carbonation with flavors of sour malt, citrus, a touch of strawberry and yeast. Finis is semi-dry, very light, with some aftertastes of yeast and berry.

Pours a cloudy straw color with virtually no head, wtf? Aroma is of strawberry, yeast, barnyard funk and acid. Taste is strawberry up front, but then the yeast and funkiness show up. The big let down of this beer is the lack of carbonation. It just seems like a sour wine then a lambic.

Pours a golden color with no head. Aroma is horseblanket, funk, some strawberry and a mixture that seems like watermelon. Taste is very tart, with strawberry and watermelon notes. Pretty good but lacks carbonation and has a sort of synthetic feel to it.

(bottle, thanks Joebrew!) Pours hazy orangish/gold with a scant white head that leaves a ring around the glass. Aroma is very funky with barnyard and just a subtle smell of strawberry lurking in the background. The flavor itself was strong with funkiness and on the finish I could detect a faint hint of the strawberry when I exhaled. Medium mouthfeel with low carbonation. This was a decent beer.

Vintage 2006, poured from a 375 ml bottle. Thick, greyish yellow appearance. Aroma is all moldy, cheesy funk and overripe fruit; irish cheddar, lemon, canteloupe, mandarin orange, strawberry. Sun exposed fruit. Weeping sugars and half fermented syrups. Wet animals collecting dust. Flavor is tart, not sour. Violent, forthright funkiness dominates; sweaty, cottony, farmlike nastiness. Pineapple juice rotted in the sun and balsamic vinegar. So much funk running through this only strongly tart body is a bit overpowering; that fresh zing of lemon juice just isn’t there to cleanse the mouth at the end, so the lambicky weirdness just sort of festers in the mouth, and while this isn’t at all bad it’s definitely not ideal. Uncarbonated, oily, firey palate; funky stomach acids and stinky cheeses outlasting everything in the lengthy finish. Very unique; a more effervescent example might have worked better, as would have more sourness. Thanks to Alister and Andy!