Upstream Gueuze Lambic

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

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.

750ml bottle shared by iowaherkeye. Thanks Joey. Bottle 40 of 308. Bottled 7/07, brewed 8/05. Poured a slightly hazy golden color. Attractive aroma of sour fruit and buttery oak. Mild to moderate acidity on the tongue throughout with flavors of buttery oak, white wine, and a hint of apple. Great beer.

In the 750 mL bottle from Beertopia. Pours a light orange yellow with a thin white head. This has a seriously pronounced oak aroma. Light and smooth body with a fantastic long oak flavor. Seriously deep honey flavor throughout. A really delicious beer.

July 2006 bottling. Pickle juice aromas. Oak and honey. Creamy and smooth. Surprisingly good. Thanks iowaherkeye.

750mL bottled at Cantillon tasting. Thanks Sean! Light yellow. No carbonation. Mellowed from 2yrs? of age. Sourness is light. Nice funky aroma.

GABF 2006. This was one of the main beers I was gunning for at the festival. Pale gold with a fizzy white head. Nose is suitably tart with lemon, sour fruit notes, light wet leather and some barnyardy funk. Taste is more sour fruits, damp leather, wet earth, sweat, and more barnyard. Body is light and spritzy with lots of acidity and dryness around the edges. Finishes with more sour fruits, that tart twang that I love in gueuze, leather, and sweat.

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.

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.