Adelaar Geuze - Spiced
Brouwerij-Stokerij Sako in Gooik, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 🇧🇪
Lambic Style - Untraditional Series|
Score
6.88
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6.5
Pours with a huge foam, unclear strawyellowblonde underneath. Foam itself collapses quickly, looks soapy mostly. Aroma is herbal/spicy, but manageable. Can't quite put my finger on the spice(s), but it has a peppery, woody tone to me. Mild lambic funk underneath. Taste is sharp, tart, christmassy-like spices - but not gingerbread exactly either, perhaps this clove / cardamom / 'pepernoten' is part of a bigger blend of spices? Medium acidic, realtively simple concidering the style. It's not at all a bad beer, but it's less to my taste than I had hoped, not an exceptional base by any means. But the blend of spices and the intensity thereoff is very well balanced, so I guess this is more of a 'if you like it, you like it' kind of beer.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8
Spiced 'geuze' (so technically not really a geuze but a flavoured lambic blend indeed) by Sako, a small brewery in the Pajottenland region which has meanwhile discovered lambic as a new source of income; bottle from Huis van de Geuze, shared with Goedele. Lots of pressure on the bottle but no gushing. Thick, bath-foam-like, snow white, plaster-like lacing, very firm and stable head on a cloudy yolk-yellow beer with greenish tinge, turning murky beige in the end. Aroma indeed very spiced, lemon-scented hand soap, ground ivy, wet leather, lemonbalm, even something lavender- or mint-like, lemongrass, overripe cucumber, coriander (?), freshly fermented farmland, dust, straw, pumice, sorrel. Lime-like sourness in the mouth, persistent yet softish and not too 'neig', cucumber and stewed rhubarb notes, lots of cava-like carbonation with supple, if somewhat thinnish mouthfeel; pale malts and slick, even soapy wheat under ongoing lime sourishness, lactic dryness and soft woody tannins, until this whole spice effect returns, providing ethereal retronasal aromas most reminiscent of ground ivy, coriander seed and lemonbalm but also adding a somewhat astringent bitter effect. Earthy, herbal, sour-bitter finish with lingering soapiness. Ground ivy came to mind several times - the actual herbs are not disclosed - so for all I know, they could have harvested it from their garden and thrown it in the kettle, along with - probably - something else, which could well be coriander seed... I have no idea what actually went in here, but such herbal lambics never really did it for me and this one is not going to change my mind, I am afraid. Moreover, the lambic base beneath the herbaceous effects seems thin, unbalanced and lacking in complexity, which is why I am hesitating to buy their regular geuze... Lambic is of course something very specific and demanding, and frankly I do not have the impression that Sako already has it well under control so far. Wait and see what happens...
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
bottle. Color: Hazy pale golden, white head. Aroma: Subtle tart, funky and herbal. Taste: Light to moderate tart, herbal / spicy (mint-like, wormwood?), citrus notes. Funky hints and some wood. Just under medium body, just below average carbonation. Dry-ish finish. A bit thin. Would like to drink a 'normal' Sako Geuze to compare. I'm not convinced yet.