Oud Beersel apparently made a tradition out of commemorating the founder of the brand, the legendary Henri Vandervelden, as this is already the third one in a row named after him; according to the back label, this 140 years edition consists of a blend of lambics (one, two and three years) from three different 'foeders', with an average age of 30 months. The foeders which originally held Brunello di Montalcino are not involved this time, contrary to the previous editions. Anyway, on to the bottle, bought today at the brewery during Toer de Geuze: loudly crackling, very dense and pillowy, thickly plaster-lacing, egg-white, thick and stable head, hazy peach blonde robe with ochre-ish tinge, the haze perturbed by a fierce storm of raging sparkling - this beer is among the liveliest I have seen in a long time, in that respect. Aroma of dusty old books, dry straw bales in a dusty old shed, newspapers of decades old even, dried out orange peel, unripe gooseberry, green apple, old jute rope, wet oak wood, oloroso sherry, bitter horse chestnuts. Wonderfully crisp onset, acidic in a 'malse' way but still with a thin lemony edge bringing a huge amount of freshness to the old lambic profile, hard green apples and pears, unripe green gooseberries and sour grapes, swirling through a 'crystalline', naturally minerally, cava-like effervescence, supple body; a lean bready- and hardtack-like core lies buried under an ongoing tart 'green' fruitiness and strong lactic sourness (kefir), while tannins appear in an early stage, making way for a deeply woody finish, to the brink of astringency, but never losing touch with this crisp sour-fruitiness. The noble, deep old lambic character comes to full colour in the last stage, when old dry sherry- and bitter nut-like aspects elegantly and aromatically emphasize the woodiness. A lovely breadiness lingers at the back. The whole remains 'mals' (as in other Oud Beersel offerings - a testimony of their genetic relationship with Boon) but displays such beauty and depth that once again, this Vandervelden series blows me away. This is an absolute must for geuze lovers, like the two previous ones - nothing on this geuze is short from perfect in my opinion. Yet another proof that Oud Beersel lambics are criminally underrated - see their scores in blind tastings if you need more proof. Kudos, and I could not have asked for a more beautiful way to celebrate the Toer de Geuze.

Bottle on release day at Oud Beersel, tasted side by side with 137 and 135. Pale golden color with nice head and high carbonation. Aroma is strong feet, lime, nuttiness, not as intensely red-vineous as the other two were fresh, let alone are now. High carbonation. Very good Geuze, if not as ridiculously impressive fresh as the other two were.