Dull-looking. Any other style and I'd be docking it points for this shit. The aroma is predominantly leathery, maybe a little bit of lemon. On the palate, really interesting. Low carb for a gueuze, but a bright lemony, citrus, then some wood in the finish. A touch of brett and moderate tartness. Big leathery finish, quite tart.

Poured from 750mL bottle (2022-2023; bb 21/12/2032). Hazed orangey gold with small white head. Lots of peach upfront, nice tart funk, fairly balanced, enjoyable.

The family tree geuze project by Tilquin keeps expanding - already reaching back to the great-great-great-grandfather of Pierre Tilquin now, with this Jean-Jean, consisting of old lambic - even as much as 70% lambic of three years old. Slow gusher so keep a glass nearby. Medium thick, egg-white, fizzing, papery lacing, slowly dissipating head over a misty, warm peach blonde robe with metallic golden glow and strings of lively sparkling. Aroma of mature lambic for sure, but still conveying a lot of fraîcheur as well: oxidized green apple slices, gooseberries, old wooden furniture, touch chlorine turning up every now and then, very dry old sherry, unripe grapefruit, background whiff of farmland in late summer, unripe hard nectarine, sorrel, wild sea buckthorn berries, old leather, old dusty cardboard, dry haystack, minerals. Crisp onset, dry with well-contained fruity esters, 'mals' effect reminiscent of halfripe apricot or still hard peach, mingled with a slightly sharper citric acidity adding freshness along with the carbonation, of which the mineral effects run through the whole. Rounded body, grainy in its core with a green-yellow, tangy, tart fruitiness continuing to dominate, maintaining its citrusy effect till the end. Noble 'old' woodiness sets in at that point but the tart fruitiness remains dominant - even when retronasally, this typical old lambic aroma appears, not overpowering, but making its presence crystal clear, as in very old dry sherry or very old and heavily oxidized wine, mixed with the leathery effects of Brett and something vaguely reminiscent of old-fashioned brown soap. Slight bitterness, lots of lingering minerality and this sparkle of bright fruitiness grace a long, drying and complex finish. To be frank - with other lambic blends in mind, also from other producers, that were made with primarily old lambics - I was expecting this 'leathery-soapy', thoroughly oxidized, sherry-like effect of old lambic to be overly dominant, but here the two year old lambic manages to maintain enough crispness, fruitiness and brightness to keep everything 'fresh' and highly drinkable (also helped by a very minerally, lively effervescence of course). I think that feature alone deserves praise so in its own way, this is a stunningly beautiful geuze - the family tree formula clearly has not worn out yet, something I was beginning to fear after the umpteenth addition to the project. This is a worthy, specific addition with its own personality - kudos once again to Tilquin and his really, really big family...

Blend of 50% Boon 1 year old Meerts, the rest is Cantillon, Girardin, Lindemans