Mort Subite Oude Gueuze (formerly: Fond)

Brewed by Mort Subite (Alken-Maes / Scottish & Newcastle)
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Kobbegem, Belgium

Cloudy orange with a lasting white head. Funky grapefruit and barnyard aroma. Tart grapefruit dominated, somewhat simple flavour with a short aftertaste.

Amazingly sour—painfully so! Tons of citrus. Not much of the “horse blanket” funkiness. Rather simple—just sour. Nicely refreshing and tangy but un-complex and not so very interesting.

At Mort Subite, Brussels. Slight unclear orange with a creamy off white head. Tart and fresh nose with mould and cellar. Prickling, dry and sticky. Lemon, barnyard and citrus. Quite easy drinkable with a fine balance and tartness.

Bottle shared at Andy’s tasting. Pours a clear golden amber. Light lemony citrus aromas, and some light bretty funk. Medium bodied with more clean lemon notes. Finishes with a clean crisp acidity and nice sourness. Probably the favorite out of about 20 bottles shared at the tasting. There was another bottle up after this one, but no one wanted to drink anything else since it wouldn’t live up to this. Very tasty.

Bottle: Clear golden with a dense white head. Funky, leathery aroma- farmhouse, nice lactic notes, old oak, mild cobweb- complex. Nice and crispy body. Citric flavor- good amount of funky/leathery notes- light acetic acid, more lactic sourness. Very dry as well, with a nice clean finish. Very complex and incredibly drinkable.

Bottled. Very bitter, sour aroma, light veggies, carrot, sweet potato, mostly sour dominant aroma, light metallic notes. Bitter, sour lambic notes, very lemony and clementine flavors, super tart lime. Horsey, relatively clean, easy drinking, with a big body. Quite nice here, very authentic infected funk all around.

Acidic blond geuze in a cold tumblerglass. Tastes similar to the regular Mort Subite Gueuze, only a little more sour.

Best By Date September 2011; Sampled January 2009
A reasonable pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a fat-two-finger thick, frothy, pale, cream-white colored head. The beer is a honey-amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, copper-gold color when held up to the light. The aroma has a sweet, grassy grain character to it that is backed by a solid tartness as well as some spicy, woody oak notes towards the finish. Some sharp notes that are something like phenolics, perhaps a bit of acetone sort of perfume the aroma of this beer; this seems to get magnified a bit as the beer warms up. A touch of woody mushroom is noticeable just before the lactic tartness kicks in, but there also seems to be a touch of acetic character here in the finish of the nose.

Fairly sour, this actually shocks my palate a bit. The sourness has a nice bite to it that, along with some tannic oak character, grips the palate and lingers after each sip. This tastes fairly clean, given the ample acid character; there does seem to be a wisp of Brettanomyces that sort of perfumes the palate, it lingers throughout the flavor profile with a characteristic sweat-stained, musty blanket and musk note. There is an astringency that grips the palate after the beer has left the mouth. This is definitely more sour than anything, but there is a nice back note of oak and just a touch of funkiness to this brew. The oak provides a bit of texture that keeps the from being watery, but this is still nice and quaffable. The taste bears out the dominant lactic acid notes that are backed by just a hint of acetic.

This is pretty decent; there is something about the complexity, or lack thereof, that is a bit wanting, but I like that this is pretty decently sour.