Hanssens Oudbeitje

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

Bottle: Pours a misty golden amber color with very little carbonation and light head and quickly diminishing at that. The nose is full of tart and sour belgian funkyness, lots of horsey barny notes with brett and crisp malts. Lots of tartness and acidity. The flavor is very robust and flavorful with a huge slap of acidity and a barely noticable underripe strawberry flavor. The finish is brief and quenching. Nice lambic, way different than I was expecting.

’02 bottle. Cloudy gold, no head. Nose is acidic w. lemon, oak, funk. Not strawberries so much as a hay filled strawberry field. Very acidic up front giving way to strawberry, oak, lemon, grapes. Bitter lemon/strawberry finish. Nice!

2000 bottle consumed in ’06. i didn’t expect too much but this left me stunned. rose appearance, huge aroma of tomato vine and a touch of strawberry with a threat of some lambic rancidity. the sourness had mellowed significantly but was still mouth-puckering and showed some tomato juice and blood and suggested strawberry fruit tella and salted lemon. amazing

330ml bottle. Powerfully funky aroma, tart and full of Brettanomyces character with notes of freshly cut wood, faint amounts of strawberry and sweetness, dried leafy herbs, cellar must and distinctly sulfurous hints. Clear light-medium golden amber color, forming only a slight head which quickly and fully diminished. Flavor begins malty, grainy, lightly bready and dry, quickly turning intensely sour and fruity with finishing suggestions of citrus and tart strawberry, leaves, seeds and all. A bit lifeless on the palate with a lightly syrupy texture and medium body. Lacking depth to a certain extent but provides some interest, ultimately.

I received a sample of this from Richlikebeer and I enjoyed the tart aspect of it but the strawberries didn’t seem well blended. Perhaps its too tart? I should rerate as I sampled Hannssens Kriek before this which blew me away.

Sour aroma with some bread and strawberry essence. Orange-amber color with a wonderfully sour taste of strawberrys. Just enough tartness.

2000 <P> Sour aroma that never even gets in the vicinity of sweet. Quite tart. Golden/amber color with no head at all. Fore is vinegar and then sweet strawberries and then vinegar. Mildly creamy as well. Curiously the tart vinegar flavors make the strawberry side seem unripe as if they used green strawberries. It’s interesting, but it is also failry narrow flavor wise and that can get boring quickly.

Wow. This is an intense amazing lambiek. There is nothing sweet about this beer. It’s almost totally dry. It has the classical lambiek sourness without any sugar candy taste. This is not a beer for taste sissies. It’s a beautiful cider color. The nose is delecate with a slight hint of strawberry. The initial taste is grapefruit sour explosion that travels up your nasal sinus. The aftertaste is all strawberry. I found this in De Bierkoning in 2005. The bottle is, as far as I can tell, undated. Opened to celebrate the start of a new career.