Oude Geuze VAT 86
Brouwerij F. Boon in Lembeek, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 🇧🇪
Lambic Style - Gueuze Regular|
Score
8.14
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Bart23 (982) ticked Oude Geuze VAT 86 from Brouwerij F. Boon 5 years ago
77ships (14506) reviewed Oude Geuze VAT 86 from Brouwerij F. Boon 5 years ago
Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9.5
375 ml. bottle. BBF 29/11/2038. Hazy peach orange lovely white head, thick mousse. Nose is quite fruity oak heavy peach Boon strong raw funk with pepper. Taste is mellow peach, white wine, heavy almost cedar oak, very fruity oak, pepper, fruit, peppercorn, soft carb. Very, very nice maybe touch too steeply priced but lots better than the recent batch # 4 of Black Label which was a major let-down.
Kraddel (15844) reviewed Oude Geuze VAT 86 from Brouwerij F. Boon 5 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Pours unclear, darker blonde. Above average size head ( for the style) with respectable stability. fluffy in texture. Scent is very full, funky, yet typical Boon. Malty, rich wood. Mild citrus. The strong wood tones show the age, but the beer is far from tired. Taste is full, high carbonation ( tad too high ), 'hiding' the relatively full bodied feeling. Mild citric. Ever so slight hint of acetic acid. Malty finish, that indeed gives away the less than 100 % fermentation. Not sweet though (as it should be in the style) . very decent geuze, but the scent is amazing, which makes the taste a bit of a 'let down', especially for this price point of view. Nothing less than good though, in general, so i'm happy to finish it ! Just not the best bang for buck.
Alengrin (11609) reviewed Oude Geuze VAT 86 from Brouwerij F. Boon 5 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
An unexpected but welcome addition to Boon's Mono Blend series, following the release of the four latest ones (VATs 91, 92, 108 and 110) in one pack in late 2017 and, further back in time, the first three, namely 109 (2016), 79 (also 2016) and 77 (the first one, in 2014). I have been following this series, which I think are about the most unique lambics Boon ever released, with great interest, and have taken great pleasure from tasting all of them in detail, each time revealing how different they are from one another. This one, 86, was made according to the same principle, namely 90% old lambic from one specific barrel (numbered 86) blended with 10% of 'generic' young lambic to spark refermentation; apparently this barrel n° 86 is assembled from both old and new staves, which, according to the company, should be reflected in the blend. Let's see to which extent this is true... Opens with a hiss and some 'gun smoke' coming out of the bottle. Thick and pillowy, loudly crackling, papery lacing, egg-white, relatively dense head sustained by a whirlwind of champagne-like sparkling through an initially clear, deep golden beer with orangey-peachy hue, slowly becoming mistier and more equally orange-ochre as more sediment goes in. Aroma of old wrinkled apples, clear and strong vanilla-like oak wood, dusty attic, 'extra sec' champagne, dried lime peel, lemonbalm, indeed a quite distinct whiff of caramelly cognac as announced (especially in the end), grass silage, green pear, unripe Cape gooseberries, bitter plant leaves (mugwort, dandelion), sawdust, hard unripe peach, hints of old blankets, freshly fermented farmland, dried field flowers, vague background chlorine, minerals. Very crisp onset, lots of champagne-like sparkling filling the mouth with glistening minerally sparkles, pleasantly rushing through an array of fruity notes, varying between green apple, hard Conference pear, unripe plum and small green grapes, with everything kept well in check; relatively low in sharp lemony acidity, but the lactic sourness strongly stretches through the whole from beginning to end, with thoroughly, yet non-agressively drying effect. Full, almost 'moelleux' body, a lovely soft breadiness forming the backbone of the beer, penetrated by this crisp lactic sourness and continuing aspects of 'green' fruitiness, while the woodiness builds up and becomes more and more tannic in the end, releasing retronasal scents of vague vanilla and indeed cognac-like caramel, as promised on the back label (a quite distinct aspect - handy to remember in a blind tasting, I guess); the 'smoky' aspect that is also promised, remains altogether very abstract, however. A late, earthy and leafy, deeply buried but deceptively robust hop bitterness kicks in at the very end, lingering a bit on the root of the tongue; lovely green apple-, wry plum peel- and sour grape-like accents accompany it, while the very pronounced, caramelly and vanilla-ish woodiness keeps its strength for a remarkably long time as well. The alcohol - as usual in this series - is there, but can only be felt as a warm 'back glow', rather than actually tasted. Another beautiful VAT, that much is clear; how it relates to the other editions is best judged in a comparative tasting (I'm having this on its own), but from the notes I took of the seven earlier ones, it seems that this is among the best ones in the series, with considerably complexity, nobility and depth as well as refreshing crispness - a drink worthy of the best champagne, like all the top geuzes are (even if this blend does not meet the legal proportions of lambic 'age' to qualify as a true 'oude geuze'). I think some aging will further improve it - again, as is the case with all the top geuzes - so I guess I'll have to score a few other bottles of this. Hugely enjoyed it at this relatively young age, though, cheers to Boon!
Bierkoning (17699) reviewed Oude Geuze VAT 86 from Brouwerij F. Boon 5 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Corked bottle. Blonde. Lemon in the almost bready aroma. Not too sour flavor with lemon, oak, floral notes. Dry, soft vinous notes. Very well balanced.