Hanssens Oudbeitje

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

Been waiting to try this one for a while. Bottle from Sam’s in Durham. Looks like a typical gueuze. Would have expected it to be a little bit redder considering the addition of strawberries. Aroma is typical barnyard funk, with hints of strawberry candy (the one where the wrapper looks like a strawberry), honey and leather. Lots of carbonation, crackling after first poured. Sweet and sour palate. I like it a bit more on the sour side, but this is a fine and interesting offering from Hanssens.

Light golden brown in appearance with very little head. The aroma is incredible! Very much a mix of sweet and sour. Lots of peach, honey and some good funk. The palate is very smooth and medium bodied. Great funk flavors. Sweet upon the first taste, but sour in the finish. Underrated in my opinion.

Bottled. Golden and a little pinkish in colour with almost no head. Mild strawberries with notes of sulfor, earth and citrus. Really hardcore - almost hurts your throat.

2002.From Bottle. (Bought in March @ Premier Gourmet) Pours like apple juice. No head to start, but when I swirled it I got a small, white bubbly head. Aroma of sourness and strawberries. Flavor was of mild strawberries and a sour kick in the finish. It has a warming to it, I can feel as it slips down my throat. Smooth to drink. Light, airy body. Acidity was present as with a good lambic. My girlfriend hated it.

Poured a clear gold color with no head, had quite a bit of carbonation though, both in the bottle and in the galss. Aroma has some funky lambic character, somewhat weaker than others, along with some strawberry and herbs. Flavor is very much that of a lambic with good amounts of acidity. Stawberry is really subdued. There is an interesting flavor that i had a hard time descibing until I read other posts. Tomatoe would be a close approximation. Body is moderately thin though there seems to be some residual sweetness. Not bad but not great.

Bottle: Poured a light red/brown color lambic with no head or carbonation. Aroma of funk and horse blanket is quite strong with some very subtle strawberry in the back. Taste is mix of sour and funky lambic with an extra dose of horse blanket with some faint strawberry also noticeable. Not sure if this lack some aging or if the balance is wrong but definitely not one the best lambic fruit that I have tasted.

[Bottle from System Bolaget] Aroma has lots of strawberrys, horseblanket, some citric notes, didnt get any tomato like others have said. Smooth body, puckering sourness.

This rating may or may not be fair. There was no head whatsoever on this beer. No carbonation in the bottle either. I’d question whether there was a leaky cork or something if I hadn’t read a bunch of other ratings that reported the same thing. This is too bad, because this beer needs needs needs some carbonation. It is hugely sour. Big flavor of tomato, as others have said. Somewhat of a musty tinge, but far overpowered by the sourness. Tomato really comes through way more than the bit of strawberry flavor. extremely refreshing. If there was a bit of carbonation in the mouthfeel, this would be a good bit better. But, like a true lambic, this is growing on me as I drink it. I’d certainly like to see more beers like this one.