Bottle shared in Oldmeldrum. It pours hazy bright orange with a small white head. The aroma is musty, dusty, oak, dried leaves, zingy, sherbet, tart granny smith apple, lemon peel, mouldy peach, gooseberry crumble, wet hay and floral accents. The taste is crisp, dry, tart, bright acidity, zingy, loads of sour apple, sour candy, sherbet, oak, musty, funky, hay, gooseberry, white grape, twist of lime and refreshers with adry, puckering finish. Medium body and fine, prickly carbonation. Really bright and zingy. Good depth and high level of drinkability. Delicious.

Everyone wants a geuze these days and it was no different already three years ago, when NaparBCN approached BIIR and Montaigu brewer Gunther Bensch to blend one for their venue in Barcelona; Bensch had ample experience in the lambic field and together with NaparBCN created this special edition made with De Troch lambic, limited to 5000 bottles. Rating from a vintage bottle of three years old, that has been sitting in my cellar for almost as long; green 75 cl bottle with cork and crown cap (instead of muselet). Produces a loose and unstable, off-white, moussy head which immediately opens and quickly recedes, vanishing into almost nothing in the very end; initially near-clear, warm, almost ‘metallic’ old gold robe with pale orangey hue which becomes more outspoken and misty with sediment, with a lonely bubble of carbon dioxide moving upwards here and there in the glass. Lovely, characterful, 'noble' nose with lots of emphasis on old lambic: lots of very old dry orange peel, lemonbalm and old herbarium, cava, soaking wet wood, wet cork, dry white wine, grass silage, bitter garden plants, some chlorine, dried lemongrass, old wrinkled apples, dried out nettle cheese, very dry oloroso sherry, stale sweat. Crisp, sour onset but in a softish way, more sour apple and unripe nectarine wryness than sharp lemony acidity, wild apples and dried yellow grapefruit, with the tartness primarily of a lactic character, elegantly but thoroughly drying the entire palate, enlivened by modest yet ‘uplifting’ minerally notes from the carbonation. Dry ‘old cracker’-like maltiness leading to an even drier finish where this lambic blend comes to its full glory: a ‘dusty’, bone dry and – for style – quite firmly bittering finish, combining a strongly tannic ‘old wood’ effect with a cava-like brut effect, enlightened by a light lemony sour touch and, eventually, a lot of late but lingering, leafy ‘old’ hoppiness with a dried grass- and bitter garden plant-like aftertaste. Lovely, very ‘noble’ geuze, very interestingly aged, dry and crisp but thanks to the relative gentleness in sourness, very highly drinkable, with more emphasis on finishing bitterness. A beauty, glad I kept it aside for a few years; if only De Troch themselves would apply their usually outstanding and characterful lambic in this way much more often, and get rid of that ridiculous Chapeau childishness.

8 4 7 3 16Draft at Helst, Amsterdam. Black with a beige head. Aroma of roast, licorice, vanilla, oak, chocolate and caramel. Flavour is heavy sweet and moderate bitter. Full bodied with a fairly thick chewy texture, light chilli warmth in the finish and soft carbonation.