Upstream Gueuze Lambic

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

(750ml bottle # 260/308, Aug 2005 vintage) Pours a cloudy golden body with a small white head. Aroma of barnyard funkiness, wood, vanilla, and light lemon. Flavor of woodiness, vanilla, very subtle sourness, earthy, and light apple with a dry finish.

750ml bottle acquired in trade with valpoaj (thanks!). Brewed in Aug 2005 & bottled in July 2006. Bottle # 305 / 308. Poured a medium and lightly hazy yellow color with a small sized white head. Aromas of some green appples, yeast, oak, and funky. Nice aroma. Tastes of some sweet apples, caramel, vanilla, and a very light funkiness. This one was very sweet. Where is my tart Gueuze finish! After that awesome aroma, the taste was a major let down.

Bottle... Hazy, light golden ale with a small, fizzy, white head. Grainy, acidic nose with notes of lemon, oak and stale, earthy hops. The flavor is grainy sweetness balanced by moderate bitterness and low-key acidity. Boozier than the 6.5% ABV suggests. Medium-bodied and creamy with moderate carbonation. Lengthy, watery, lightly bitter finish. Kudos to bu11zeye for providing the bottle!

Bottle 308 of 308 shared with puzzl and IMtheOptimator. Pours gold with a white head. Smells of horseblanket, sweat and apple juice. Tastes a bit watery and sweet with very little lambicy hints. Bland and watery palate with a slightly bitter finish.

Sampled from 750ml bottle shared by kramer17801. Thanks Jason!
Brewed Aug 2005, bottled July 2006, and consumed Aug 2007
Appearance is cloudy, opaque golden yellow with only a thin, white film of a head to be seen, which is pretty much what you want to see with gueuze. First impression of the nose is surprise, as in it actually smells like true gueuze. There’s some soft, sweaty hay, faint-to-moderate horseblanket notes, some lemon, some rather prominent wheat character, but it lacks any sort of cheese funkiness, which is fine, certainly not a negative, just something to note. The sourness and pungency is at a lower level than Belgian gueuze, but it’s still fairly noticeable, with a sour, prickly bite of dried hay, light to moderate white grapes and lemon tasted and then a resounding, resinous layer of oak that coats the mouth. Bubbly and effervescent, lightly puckery, and lightly prickly on the tongue as well. Mellow, subtle, soft, with some light wheat and brett-like yeast flavors lingering in the finish. I even get some toast and faint char in this one as well, but maybe it’s more of a hearty oak note that I’m misinterpreting. Over time and at a slightly warmer temperature, some green vegetable notes are found, something like olive and celery, but it’s not offensive or even a bother at all. This isn’t going to rival a true Belgian gueuze, but it’s surprisingly on-style, well-made and really enjoyable to drink.

Multiple samples, GABF 2006. Body is medium yellow. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), moderately yeasty (barnyard, horseblanket), with notes of wood, lemon, sour apple. Flavor is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly to moderately acidic. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. They haven’t produced a sourness level that is authentic, but the nose does show some promise. If this is a first try, it’s a respectable one, but it’s not on the level of, say, Left Hand’s anomalous rendition.

I believe that iowaherkeye was the one that shared this at a tasting. I was not expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. The bottle was from the ’05 vintage. This poured hazy gold with a bright white head. The aroma was lemon juice with some horseblanket. There was also some sweet hard candy, the type that I could never indentify the fruit, raspberry maybe. The taste had some light lemon juice with some funky cheese rind. The sourness was tame compared to what I was expecting. This was decent and fairly subtle. I do not think that they dumbed down the style and should be applauded for having the guts to try this on a commercial scale.

Poured a hazy yellow color with a white head. Light wheaty citrus nose with some funky leather and horse. Not real tart. Dry Bretty taste and bitterness. Light-medium bodied.