The 'regular' geuze in the rather infamous Chapeau series - I cannot believe I never rated this one before, apparently I never had it, strangely... Anyway, rating from a 37.5 cl bottle now - and decidedly not the Cuvée, which now mentions oude geuze on its label, but indeed the 'capsulekensgeuze', which seems to have been downgraded in alcohol volume meanwhile (De Troch's website mentions a meagre 3.5% ABV), so this is indeed an older bottle. Loosely knit, off-white, thinly mousy, bubbly head, quickly showing gaps in the middle; consistently near-clear, 'metallic' orangey peach blonde robe with amberish tinge, some dark, tiny dead yeast bits in the end. Weird and frankly not very inviting aroma of oxidized malts (wet cardboard - indeed an older bottle!), homemade lemonade gone stale, blonde sugar, industrial apple juice, old tea bags and even iced tea, old worn out rubberband, polyester textile dust, old lemon peel, dried pumpkin flesh, sweet flag root, moist cigarette tobacco (again referring to strong and not very flattering oxidation in this case). Very sweet onset, honeyish and reminiscent of homemade lemonade or iced tea with too much sugar in it - cloying to the teeth, even if a citric, again lemonade-like, ascorbic sourness tries to battle it; carbonation is very soft, almost flat even, with a somewhat watery mouthfeel as a result. This industrial, crystal sugar-like sweetness plus that lemonade-like sourness dominates the middle, over a thin, slick wheaty-cereally core, towards a finish where a late hint of bitterness asppears, lingering a bit on the root of the tongue. That horrible sugary sweetness remains the dominant factor, paired with that ascorbic sour effect - further marred by very obvious retronasal oxidation effects of chicken soup, wet cardboard and old cigarettes. Some light astringency is there, but cannot be disconnected from that annoying ascorbic effect. Everything clashes here, and everything annoys me, with the oxidation actually being a minor problem in comparison with that sugary sweetness, which is way stronger than I was preparing myself for before I opened this bottle; this is closer to Lindemans' or Timmermans' industrial faros than to any kind of geuze, in being sweeter even than the other of these inferior 'capsulekensgeuzes'; bastardized, filtered, very heavily sweetened and very far removed from true 'oude' geuze - Belgian legislation should literally forbid to use the word 'geuze' at all on this kind of products. Fortunately the appreciation for traditional geuze in the world of beer lovers has exploded like never before in the past years and traditional geuze is now easy enough to find: I hope this kind of 'blasts from the past', from a time when true geuze (and other traditional lambic beers) was threatened with extinction, will soon die out entirely. Now thàt would be a triumph for lambic, wouldn't it? Summarizing: this indeed meets the profile of 20th-century style 'industrial' geuze, 'fake' geuze in other words, but even in that segment, it is sweeter than the others and much sweeter than I can ingest. Much worse than expected, and the age of the bottle with all the oxidation and loss of carbonation that has come with it, obviously does not help. I will never understand why De Troch insisted - and still insists to a very large extent - on spending their fine lambic on politicially incorrect, obsolete, unwarranted and unpleasant products like this.

Woody aroma. A slight sourness. Sweet and fruity (grapes, pear, peach, mango). Tastes a bit medicinal.

05/07/2018 - 37,5 cl bottle @Zwarten Engel, Etikhove. Hazy dark yellow, small rim. Nose is fruits, sweetness. Taste is peach, bit apple, sweet touch, candy, bit syruppy.

Fancy corked bottle at home. Clear dark amber with bubbly beige head. Some funk, lots and lots of sugar, hay, quite some wood, lemon candy, green leaves, canned peach, light puke and glue. Very sweet, under medium bitter and sour. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. It’s not very good, but way better than most other Chapeaus I’ve had.