Upstream Gueuze Lambic

Brewed by Upstream Brewing Company
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Omaha, Nebraska USA

750, corked and baled. Thanks, Riverside! Hazy light toffeeish amber with wispy gray trails of foam up top. Tart fruity nose. Overripe aromatics, but still very approachable. Fizzy medium body. Honey and overripe fruit mid-palate. Fairly well undistinguished, but also without any real flaw. You could drink a bunch of busted lambics and wish for one this good for a long time, but it has a ways to go yet before it can really take its place alongside the classics from the old country.

Bottle: Poured a hazy golden color gueuze with a medium foamy head with average retention and minimal lacing. Aroma consists of oak notes with some funky barnyard notes and some green apple. Taste is a nice enough mix between some oak with green apple and light barnyard notes. I would have appreciated even more if funky barnyard notes had been more present and if overall taste would have been more tart and sour. Very well done.

Small white head with fair retention and decent lacing. Hazy gold appearence. Nose was very nice, fruity, citrusy with some notes of cat pee, wood and light leather. Body is light, unfortunately thin and a tad watery, low carbonation, a serious drawback to this brew. Lightly tart. Decent fruity flavors, appley, citrus, light funk, leather and must. Dry, lightly tart and fruity finish. Did,nt have that Gueuze type refreshing quality though imho. Damn nice try though! Thanks for sharing brian!

Bottle 141/308 (7/06 bottling of a 8/05 brew) from Beertopia (3/07) in Omaha, shared at SL with sloth. The pour was fairly typical for the style, hazy straw-orange in color, white head, although the head was a little smaller than usual for the gueuze. The aroma was really excellent, far exceeded the flavor, but built some serious expectations: oak, slight bret, citrus, light funk. The flavor was a bit watered down, lemons, only light sourness (definitely not tart), earthy dirty notes, some rubber off notes, and oak. Mouthfeel was on the flat side for a gueuze, lightly carbonated, not clean enough of a finish without that heavy-handed tart zip at the end of each sip. It all just combined for a rather bland flavor, despite the aroma being so good. Great to see an American brewer working on a lambic, would love to try a few more of the Upstream lambics!

750 ml bottle. Pours a hazy dull golden with a fizzy off white head. Aroma is funky, leathery, some lemon citrus character, farmhouse brettyness. Light soapiness in the flavor, chunky yeasty character, more earth and leather, horsey, ligth smokey and cheesy- almost goaty or mouse-piss-like, with lots of sourness- lactic and wierd pedio or other acid bacteria. Interesting and funky overall- way out there, and not quite as refined as some belgian lambics.

Golden yellow color with a white head that has good lacing to it. Sour, funky, aromas. I get some pineapple, oak, and some fruit skins. This has some barnyard flavors to it, but it also has some citrus type flavors to it. It’s acidic, but not overly so. Dry and light bodied with pretty high carbonation. Very good beer, I wish I could have another bottle of this.

From a 750mL Bottle. Courtesy of valpoaj. Somewhat hazy, pale banana gold color with a finger of effervescent white head. Aromas of mild lemon and a whiff of pear skins, along with a puzzling talcum powder minerally character. Minimal acidity present in the nose, but some mild musty brett and faint alcohol is noticeable. Medium light bodied, softly carbonated mouthfeel. Bretty, musty flavors with a mild wheat acidity, but none of that deep, complex funky acidity. Hints of herbal coriander. The flavors aren’t bad overall, but I find it to get a bit flabby and thin on the palate and lacking any real depth or acidic complexity. Still, a respectable attempt at a difficult style. Thanks AJ!

Thanks to valpoaj for the bottle - hazy honey-colored beer, with minimal head - really tart and acidic aroma, with some over ripe fruit and serious leathery/cheesy funk - very authentic - the taste is actually rather sweet for a lambic, with some notes of oranges and honey - mild acidity - notes of vanilla and oak - some moderate barnyard and aged cheese complexity, with a hint of leather - some belgian ale wheaty/grainy character - the loow carbonation adds to a slick mouthfeel, and an oddly thick consistency, especially for the style - dries out a little in the finish, and some phenolics become apparent, but remains far too sweet for a gueuze - it tastes like they blended a gueuze with a belgian blonde ale - I think they should have shot for a lower abv - maybe it would have dried out and gotten funkier - decent, but it lacks the punch and complexity I’ve experienced in their other beers.