“Blend of 1, 2, and 3 year old lambics. A true Geuze – a blend of 1, 2, and 3 year-old lambic, unfiltered and unpasteurized, and aged in the bottle for at least a year after blending. Refermentation in the bottle gives this Geuze its famous champagne-like spritziness. The lambic that goes into it is brewed only with 60% barley malt, 40% unmalted wheat, aged hops, and water, spontaneously fermented by wild yeasts, and matured in oak casks.”
Glassware: Stemmed tulip.
Appearance: Bold amber with a lacto haze. It constructs a thumb of white head which persists and leaves a healthy lace trail as we hook in.
Aroma: It’s mostly a mix of freshly squeezed lemon/lime juice, candied orange and tangerine with shades of mandarin and grapefruit also getting a look in. The funky notes start to take shape as it settles – we get a rubbery note along with musty oak, tangy esters and a herbal spice…lemongrass or mint perhaps? Funktastic!
Flavour: It opens with a burst of acetic lemon and lime, grapefruit, grainy malts and musty oak. Remains dry through the mid…thought we may have picked up a hint of Northwest American hop flavour and bitterness there as well. There’s a late injection of this citrusy herb-like character which leads in to the dry, musty, woody and citric finish.
Mouthfeel: Bone dry with a vibrant effervescence. Quite light on actually. The 6% AbV comes in and out intermittently.
Overall: Not as overcome by it as we had anticipated. In all honesty we’re still fairly new to the geuze game and at this point we’d say we fancy the juicy, fruit-driven Lambic and kriek styles over this. We’re not saying it’s bad one bit it’s just not our preferred type of sour.