De Vrijschutter Oude Geuze

Bottle bought at TDG. Since a few years, both lambiekfabriek en perhaps even more so den herberg have realy risen to the top for me. LF is always very affortable, great quality, whilst den herberg took what I feel like is a false start, with an OK geuze sold at higher than average price. but what they've been doing since (geus genereus, but also suske, old lambics at tdg, etc etc) have been consitiantly one of the best ones available, at modest prices to say the least. So for them to collab... Yeah my intrest peaked.

Pours a clear, lighter blonde. Sizeable white head that is very stable for the style. Scent is very citrus focussed, wood but fairly fresh barrels, seemingly. It's got a hint of that old lambic from den herberg (or at least it reminds me of it) , nutty, mushroomy, but very lightly so. The main focuss here is freshness, zingy citrus. I expect higher lactic acid in this one, and am getting no real acetic. Taste is def where I want it to be in terms of acidity. Clearly acidic, but not over the top. Definately got the old herberg going on, as it rises towards the end, it dominates the aftertaste completely. A bit more freshness up front though, citrussy but not nearly as much as the aroma. Lactic acid isn't as dominant as I figures. Dry, but not puckering. This is another pretty great one. if I'm being honest, very den herberg forward to me. Which is by no means a bad thing, it's just that the lambiekfabriek is also very respectable, but they don't really show their colors in this one. medium carbonation and slightly below medium body.

New geuze produced by five cousins from the Devillé family who runs Den Herberg, referring to the resistance movements in both World War I and II; the lambic used comes from Den Herberg and Lambiek Fabriek but no further technical details are given as to exactly how it was made (or which of the five cousins did what exactly), alas. Launched during this year's Toer de Geuze. Thick and dense, frothy, egg-white, regular and very firm head sustained by a whirling storm of sparkling churning through a misty deep old-golden robe with apricot glow. Aroma of freshly cut small green apples, raw quince, farmland, dusty old books, petrichor, cobwebbed wooden attic, unripe green plums, wet blue limestone, freshly cut nettles in spring, rowan berries, stale lime juice, wet leather, ricotta salata, grass silage. Crisp, green-fruity onset, Granny Smith apple, unripe plum, gooseberry and lime, acidic round the edges but in a rounded, 'malse' way, with a lemony flavour which persists in a refreshing way without dominating the rest too much; underneath runs quite an outspoken, petrichor-like minerality, enlivened by swirling, yet very fine-bubbled and therefore appropriate carbonation. Supple, soft, 'mals' mouthfeel, bready under these ongoing green apple-, gooseberry- and lemon juice-like flavours, joined by retronasal funkiness - in an outspoken way: wet old leather, farmland, damp haystacks. Woody, cellary and grassy notes pop up, the first linked to a gently drying tannic effect which matches well with this equally strong lemon flavour, both supported by an underlying, late but firm old hop bitterness. Den Herberg and Lambiek Fabriek may be new to the Senne Valley lambic scene - in the face of its long history at least - but this collaborational geuze is a convincing example of how well they have mastered both the art of spontaneous fermentation on the one hand and geuze blending on the other hand: this is a mighty fine geuze, nothing innovative of course (but I was not expecting that anyway), but maintaining huge drinkability due to its perfect level of sourness and the equally perfect balance of that sourness with funkiness, grassiness, woodiness and breadiness. Feels lighter than it is, ticks all the boxes of a classically styled geuze including complexity and balance, and quenches the thirst on a summer day: this meets all the demands one can have on the genre. Even better than I was expecting really.