meug festival 2022

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7

Pours unclear blonde. No real head. Scent is full, funky lambic, islay whisky noticeable. Taste is sharp, intense tart, dry, very oaky. Peatyness is fairly mild, but builds up in the finish. Not my style (peat) but well executed.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Whisky barrel aged lambic blend from Publitasting, the company of Geert Demuynck, a supplier of rentable refrigerators and other necessities for the catering business who started taking up lambic blending quite recently and is now slowly building a name for himself in the lambic world. Snow white, loosely moussy, open and dissipating head on a clouded warm peach blonde robe with ochre-ish tinge. Strong aroma of indeed pronounced Islay whisky (mostly moist peat but also actual whisky aroma in this case), green gooseberries, strong vanilla-ish oak wood, dry cider, green melon, unripe nectarine, lime juice, oxidized Riesling wine or sweet white grape juice, stewed rhubarb but also a sharp solventy effect (glue) probably from the whisky. Lemony sour onset, quite puckering initially but mellowing down further on, very fruity with impressions of green apple (Granny Smith - strong), lime, gooseberry and sour grapes, medium carbonation, smooth and somewhat vinous mouthfeel; acidic edges, reinforced by strongly drying lactic tartness and an aspect of astringent unripe plum, accompany a bready core, picking up more breadiness in the end due to residual yeast, but more than anything, becoming immersed in a solventy, peaty whisky flavour, carrying a strong vanilla-scenting oakiness and drying wood tannins with it. This almost 'meaty' umami-like effect mellows down the sourness; a nutty, bitter weed- and inedible seed-like astringency typical for De Troch travels along with it, while sour green fruit keeps things refreshing. Conceptually comparable with a few new and very limited experiments by Cantillon (Couvreur) and Angerik (the first Kluysbosch), which I both liked, and this one, intense as it may be, executes a similar idea in an equally captivating way, though the combination of (certainly peated) whisky and lambic will never be an accessible one. Not for the traditional geuze drinker, this one, but adventurous, daring and rewarding for those more accustomed to experimental sours in general. I would not mind having this one again, perhaps even cellared for a prolonged period of time.

Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

10/IX/22 - 75cl bottle @ Belgian Beer Geek Gathering (Gent), BB: 31/I/26, batch 001, 2022 ltd. ed. (2022-1151) Thanks to Bierridder for sharing the bottle!

Clear orange blond beer, small creamy white head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: peated whisky, funky, dry, spicy, wood notes, more spices, dusty. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: spicy, very sourish, lemony, acidic, bitter, spicy, dry, hoppy touch even? Young lambic from Girardin? Aftertaste: smoky, spicy, dry, peated, lemony, grapefruit peel. Not bad, but not great either. I’m not a big fan of the combination lambic and peat, it seems.

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

75cl bottle at Belgian Beergeeks/Brewver summer tasting at Tim's house. Thanks Siegfried.
BB 31/01/2026.
Dorée sur le côté orange, col fin blanc.
Arôme met bien en avant le bouquet tourbé du Islay qui peine à me convaincre avec ce retrait un peu funk/cave, vieux cellier et crushed white/green fruits.
Palais démarre sur un funk assez surprenant avec un caractère tourbé intéressant - le tout garde un léger côté citrique/funk avec un effet Islay qui s'estompe