Bouteille 75cl @ BXLBeerFest’24 – jour 2.
Dorée, léger orangée pâle, col blanc mousseux et bien pétillant avec une retenue au verre qui retombe avec parcimonie. Version qui passe en 90% pur lambic de 3ans, de fait nous sommes déjà sur une offre complexe qui devrait apporter son lot
Arôme sur un bouquet complexe de gueuze – ici, léger citrique, lambic en assemblage avec une touche céréales, funk, grains et un rappel de barrique/boisé tout en ayant un côté végétal que je note aussi en bouche et qui est sur une acidité de rhubarbe et un rétro-nasal rassemblant le caractère des lambics tout en ayant un bouquet sur une acidité d’agrumes, vieille grange, cave.
Palais reste en ligne avec le reste de la série familiale. Note de cave, cellier, funk, avec une petite pointe végétale, acidité presque de rhubarbe, agrumes délicat qui vient titiller le palais tout en ayant une belle marque de gueuze complexe qui perdure tout au long de cette dégustation.

12/VII/24 - 75cl bottle from Geers (Oostakker), shared @ post Katie’s UK beer tasting drinks (@home), BB: n/a (2024-545)

Clear dark orange beer, small creamy yellowish head, unstable, non adhesive. Aroma: nice, tropical fruits, oranges, woody, funky, sweet impression. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: pretty bitter start, woody, herbal, dry, more bitterness, some lemon, tannins, woody. Aftertaste: nice, fruity touch, some citrus, woody, tannins.

Hapukas, funky, nisune, tammene, mahe, puuviljane, sidrun. Hea.

The fourth one in this enchanting series of Tilquin 'family tree geuzes', referring to one of the blender's own ancestors; again with a different ratio of young and old lambics, in this case for the most part three year old lambic and only a small part two year old lambic - so that, with even no one year old lambic present, it does not qualify as an 'oude geuze' in the (all too) strict legal meaning of the 'oude' word. But who cares, any refermented blend of lambics (without further additions) is a geuze of sorts and the legal definitions seem irrelevant in that sense, of course... Audibly fizzing, egg-white, pillowy, foamy head over a misty pale orange to peachy-golden robe with a storm of sparkling raging throughout, sustaining the head for a long, long time. Somehow 'young' yet still completely mature, classic geuze aroma of unripe green plums, lime juice, noble oak wood, wood sorrel, raw rhubarb, dry old peach kernels, freshly cut green apple, bitter oranges, hard nectarine, dusty attic, dry hay, minerals, oxidized 'brut' champagne, young beech leaves in spring, dock leaf, straw bales and something subtly sweetish piercing through all along (sweet flowers, grapes). Very crisp onset, lemony acidity around a subtly astringent unripe stonefruit impression flanked by notes of green apple, sour wild berries and a sweeter touch of peach or apricot (even very faint white grape) - a beautiful play of flavours enlivened by 'dancing', minerally sparkling wine-like effervescence, adding an extra touch of acidity but also a kind of dryness, which is then taken over by a deeper 'river' of lactic acidity, gently pushing through a bread-crusty soil and carrying on elements of lime, wood sorrel and redcurrant. The sourness remains enthusiastic and colourful, in fact more so than I was expecting from a geuze blended from solely old lambics; the old lambic rusticity, nobility and astringent woodiness does become pronounced in the end, though, topped with an 'old hop' bitter tail - but this vivid fruitiness, even juiciness reminiscent of all kinds of sour fruits, remains the great protagonist in this classic geuze play. Noble yet vibrant, ticking all the boxes of what makes a traditional geuze so great and so enduring: Tilquin truly shows off his skills as a lambic maker here - not that I was expecting anything less - and squeezes out maximum 'souplesse', fruitiness and juiciness out of 'old' lambics, in itself a remarkable achievement. I do not want to miss out on any of these family tree geuzes - all four so far, with a fifth one coming up next week, have been at the top of what geuze can do. A masterpiece of geuze blending once again.

Bottle. Color: Clear deep golden, white head. Aroma: Fruity, wood, funky. Taste: Very well balanced mix of fruity gooseberry and citrus, moderate to over moderate tartness, typical Tilquin funk, oak wood, old hop, tannins and hints of straw. Medium body, just below average carbonation. Dry, bit astringent finish. Nice complexity. Another lovely Tilquin family edition.