Hanssens Oude Gueuze

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

Pour is deep golden with some orangey hue too and w thin white head...smell is funky and sour with some apples, pears, peaches, and horseblanket...taste is a tiny sweet at first, turning tart and sour with lots of funk happening...piscator is right that it is very drinkable but not very complex...seems a little sugary too...

Clear light copper in colour with practically no carbonation. Mild aromas of very sour granny smith apples, mozzarella cheese, and a bit of barnyard. Sharp, but not overwhelming acidity. A bit more sour apple in the mouth, along with a note of pear, and wet hay. There was also a bit of a woody note that revealed itself as the beer warmed up. Very drinkable, but lacking a bit of complexity.

Bottle. Quite acidic and earthy aroma. Copper colour, small white head. Acidic flavour with an earthy aftertaste. Quite refreshing.

Pours a slightly cloudy copper with a small white head. Aroma is a wonderfully sour funky barnyard, yeast and sharp sour fruits. Nice expected gueuze flavor. Amazingly tart. Probably the most tart beer I’ve ever had. Great sour cherry. Started too cold, but a barnyard funk emerges as it warms, also probably as the mouth gets used to the tartness it becomes more able to sense difference. A sweetness with a full tart feel and wonderfully sour finish. Really complex and fabulous. The finish is pure pleasure. By now the initially sharp tart has mellowed and sweetened, leaving a light sour fruit to coat the mouth until the next sip.

Bottled Brugs de’ Beertje 04-11-05. The third in my dip into the world of Acid beers and the best so far, despite it giving my tongue one hell of a work over. This one really zap’s you with it’s sharpness my friends around the table are looking at me as If I have got a screw loose and their faces contort as they take a sip. Again it get’s better with each sip and again I still don’t feel particularly well qualified to descibe all of the tastes in here, but at times it’s like taking a big bite out of a bramley cooking apple, there is some sweetness, and a lingering taste, very good.

So I’m watching some show about Belgium. I’ve got the TiVo so I can do that anytime. But I’m watching this show and thinking, Man, I could really go for a gueuze. I just so happen to have a bottle in the fridge. So I go to the fridge and pour some for me and the Mrs. Thing is, the Mrs. doesn’t like the gueuze so much; so I end up pouring her portion into my glass. Now everything’s alright. Alright. So I drink the gueuze and I like the gueuze. It’s wheaty and fruity, like apples and pears and such. It has a little vinegar to it as well and makes me crave giant cheeseburgers smothered in mustard and some french fries. But I don’t have either. So I just drink the gueuze and write this review.

750mL bottle. Slightly hazy orange amber with a film of white head. Acetic acid, horsey aromatics. Very tart sourness, some horse and wet hay later on. Slightly phenolic plastic tinge in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium light, very dry.

Hazy orangish amber body with a small head. Aroma is barnyard, tart apples, some other fruits. Not as tart or complex as Cantillon’s, but still enjoyable.