Hanssens Oude Gueuze

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

[Bottle, thanks Brewfiend] Pours very cloudy with white head. Nice sour aroma. Taste is also quite sour with a slight bitterness at the end. Solid beer, but not the best gueuze out there.

Bottle: Golden in color, slight haze, moderate to large foamy white head, clingy lacing.   Sour nose, notes of wheat and oak.   Very minor pale fruit skin, ones that I would say are under ripened because of their sourness.   Has a little funk, barnish, perhaps a little horse blanket.   Certainly tart on the tongue, bordering on sour.   Quite dry, with hints of immature Apple skin, granny smith like.   Minor sweetness, balances out the tart aspect rather well.   Fairly full bodied, moderate mouthfeel.   Finishes very dry.   Very good, albeit somewhat middle of the road.   Tiz very clean too.

Hazy amber of color with a small white head. An aroma of rubber, oak and sour notes. A flavor of burnt rubber, hints of sweets and sour notes.

750 ml corked bottle 6/30/07: Very light amber w/ a short lived white head. Leathery, earthy, barnyardy brett aromas to start. Lightly catty. Very little malt character, and lightly tart in the aroma w/ a hint of vinegar. Gets fecal as it warms. Tart to lightly sour, dry finish. Not mouth puckering, and has a sugary flavor, but it is quite dry. The flavor doesn’t seem quite as complex as the aroma, and the aftertaste is tart and earthy. Light acetic flavor but it’s not strong, and adds to the complexity of flavors. High level of carbonation, lighter body, and dry m/f. I’m still not a big fan of lambics... AKA sour beers. I can appreciate them for what they are, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get completely into sour beers.

Bottle. Pours a slightly hazy orange with a large white head that fades to a ring and leaves some lacing. Aroma is very acidic with notes of green apple, citrus, and light barnyard. Taste is green apple, citrus, light oak, light barnyard, and very sour. Medium thin very tart mouthfeel. Probably the most sour Gueuze I’ve ever had but very, very delicious.

Courtesy Knightly Spirits. Pours a dark and murky orange color with an amber backdrop. A half inch of off-white head has strong retention. Good lacing. Nose is large sour yeast and strong notes of crisp green apple. Enormous bite of vinegar-esque sourness with a hint of wood and more sour apple. High carbonation is displayed on the palate and by fierce jet-streams that rocket upward to the head. Huge, cloying body. This is the lowest rating I’ve ever given a gueuze, due to the slightly over-powering vinegar notes. Not the best I’ve had, but still good.

75 cl bottle. The head is a bit fading in the end but starts off with at lovely frothy head. A cellary aroma blended with citrus and oak. The flavor is a mixture of different spices with the gueuze tartness, still a bit too dry to leave anything sensational on the palate. Nevertheless a decent gueuze.

Pours with a glowing orange haze and an unusually lacy, almost lagery head of froth. Wafts of barnyard, freshly squeezed orange, lemon juice sharpness. Tangily restrained, orange-sodden fruit. Just a nibble of tartness, nothing acerbically acidic. Beautifully rounded, zesty gueuze with a fleshly orange sourness.