75 cl bottle from Etre Gourmet, sampled on September 23, 2014 in Ludvika.2014 vintage.Cloudy amber color, small white to off-white head. Acidic, lemon zest, lemon detergent, some brettanomyces scent. Acidic, grape peels taste. Tart aftertaste. Fizzy mouthfeel, very low bitterness.

Clear golden, large white head. Dusty, minerally, wheaty and cidery aroma, with notes of green apples and grapefruit. Light to medium bodied, heavy carbonation. Dry with medium acidity. Perfect match to Moules Frites.

The flagship product of one of those old, traditional geuze blenders which unfortunately ceased production in 1993, right after having received an award for their work (along with Hanssens and 3 Fonteinen) from OBP (Belgian beer consumers’ organisation, the forerunner of Zythos), a pivotal moment in the revitalisation of traditional lambic beers, which had gone almost extinct back then. De Neve briefly took over production of this classic geuze until they themselves were absorbed by (then) Interbrew and closed down; fortunately Frank Boon, the influential lambic activist, brewer and geuze blender, resumed it in 2002. I bought two bottles back in 2004, had one immediately and kept the other one in my cellar; this rating concerns the latter, after twelve years of quiet ageing. Thick, moussy, off-white head, forming a dense rim around the edge and a nearly completely closed veil in the middle, as well as leaving patches of lacing here and there; initially cristal clear, deep and warm orange blonde colour, almost amber, with not a lot of fizz. Completely ’genuine’ lambic bouquet, but strangely not funky, instead, rather clean, ’noble’ and surprisingly restrained, like an unblended old lambic, with unexpected sweetish notes (though obviously not in a sugary way); impressions include old dry sherry, gooseberry, tomato, chicken stock, field flowers, white wine and sour grapes, hay, ketjap, wet wood, balsamic vinegar but subtly so, hints of yoghurt, bitter honey, crackers, stewed rhubarb, apricot - in all, completely different from the young version I had in 2004, for which I took notes of lemon, wine vinegar and damp earth. It seems the long bottle conditioning has turned this geuze in a much cleaner and much less ’funky’, old lambic, which is also basically what happened, proving how interesting it can be to keep this style of beer in the cellar for several years. I get the same restraint in the taste: a lot of crisp, sour fruit in the onset, but nothing puckering or lemony, more a softer, somewhat wry, unripe stonefruit, green berry and cooked rhubarb tartness, with some very subtle sweetish peach and apricot notes. Carbonation has flattened a lot throughout the years, still some soft tingling, but way less than when it was young; slick, supple mouthfeel, very ’deep’ sourish wheat background along with very lightly caramelly barley, almost a touch of malt sweetness even, but dried by the gentle tartness which spreads throughout the mouth cavity and extends deep into the finish and seems to become more vinegary in the end. The berry- and stonefruit-like fruitiness, vaguely sweetish but wry and tart more than anything else, carries onwards along with the malt and wheat, blending with a distinctive, drying and tannin-rich, yet gentle woodiness. Along with a dash of earthy, leafy hop bitterness in the end, all these elements make for a very dry and appetizing ending. Twelve years of cellaring have effectively turned the young, crisply sour and vividly funky lambic that was once the major part in this geuze into a much more sedated, restrained, noble, wine-like old lambic, so that the overall effect is now one of mildly sparkling old lambic - including its noble, ’deep’ character. I am surprised how much this has changed, I had other geuzes of 10+ years before which had retained much more of their puckering acidity and lively ’funkiness’, so this was unexpected. In this aged form, an accessible, noble, gentle geuze, but it was already quite soft (or ’mals’) when young if my memory doesn’t fail me, so I guess this aspect has only increased throughout the years. Interesting to revisit, but I prefer this a bit younger and compared with some of Boon’s other geuzes, this will probably never be my favorite. But it’s a traditional geuze after all, and that cannot really go wrong for me anyway... My rating here is an average of both the young and the aged bottles.

Hazy amber/orange colour, white foam. Medium carbonation. Sour beer with aroma of sour fruit (lemon, grapefruit, green apples). Rather dry and bitter finish. Good geuze.

Bottle at en Öl och Whiskeymässa 2014, 2014-04-11 Göteborg AR: sour, gooseberries AP: hazy golden F: tart, gooseberries - great geuze

Ins Glas ergießt sich ein goldenes Bier mit geringer Schaumkrone. Geruch säuerlich, Citrus, Äpfel. Geschmack sauer nach Äpfel, Citrus.