6.5

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

0.33 l bottle from 'Het Huis van de Geuze', best before January 2026. Hazy, pale red with a medium large, frothy, slowly diminishing, off-white head. Sweetish, slightly sourish, quite fruity aroma of strawberry, raspberry and light sherbet powder. Fairly sweet, slightly sourish, quite fruity and a little artificial taste of strawberry, raspberry, some sherbet powder and traces of rhubarb, followed by a short, moderately tart finish. Thin to medium body, minimally astringent and gently effervescent mouthfeel, average carbonation. Quite okay, actually a decent drink.

8.5

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

750ml bottle from Raynville Superstore. It pours slightly hazy orangey - blonde with a small, but lasting white cap. The aroma is quite bright, zingy orange citrus, stone fruits, apricot, mango, splash of Irn Bru, touch woody, sappy pine, some minerality, clay, damp hay, white grape and gooseberry. The taste is crisp, firmly dry, actually a touch of bitterness, woody, crisp, puckering, spritzy sherbet, sour candy,v stone fruits, dried apricot, tangy orange citrus, tangelo, zippy acidity which quickly dissipates, splash of white wine, slightly musty, damp funk and finishing on minerality and dry oak. Medium body and fine to average carbonation. I really like this. Lovely depth and the dry hopping brings a different dimension not the aroma.

7.8

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

New addition to the range of Timmermans, the lambic brewery in Itterbeek with a turbulent history dating back to at least the early 18th century, owned by John Martin since 1993, after which the 75 cl bottlings (of e.g. the classic Gueuze Caveau, already a very soft example of the style back then, in my memory at least) were abandoned and everything that came out of the brewery was sweetened, pasteurised and, well, 'compromised'. Only in 2013, after having felt the western winds of change sweeping through the beer world, did John Martin's Timmermans come up with a true traditional geuze, still in existence today. Since then, several memorable 'authentic' lambics have availed - the bourbon barrel aged version of Griotteke was a thing of pure beauty, for instance, so my hopes for this dry-hopped geuze, in a new and still experimental phase of 'hoppy lambics' pioneered by Cantillon's Cuvée Des Champions in 2004, are quite high. Medium thick, snow white, tiny-bubbled and stable, shred-lacing, only slowly opening head; misty orange blonde robe with warm tangerine glow and fine strings of bubbles rising up here and there. Aroma of lime juice, green apple slices, gooseberries, damp haystack, grapefruit zest, freshly cut dandelions, grape skin or very dry white wine somewhere, sourdough, bergamot oil, kombucha, sawdust, dry earth, hints of river sand, old books, dried pine needles, black tea, acrylic fabric somewhere. Lemony onset, lots of green apple and gooseberry but also a strong underlying wryness of unripe green plum, somewhat astringent, an effect doubtlessly enhanced by the hops; bright minerality underneath in spite of softer effervescence than expected (and even a bit below average for a geuze), supple body. Bread-crusty graininess under drying lactic acidity but remaining crisply 'green-fruity', with growing woody tannins and pronounced hop bitterness, which actually matches well with the woodiness and the overall dry character of the lambic - the retronasal aromas one tends to associate with Idaho 7, Azacca and Sultana hops remain relatively subdued, even if a clear grapefruity effect is very noticeable. I must admit that with this combo, I was expecting more tropical fruit as well, but this is a geuze after all and not an IPA so perhaps in a lambic context, it is for the better that the hops' aromatics remain limited to grapefruit peel and orange pith-like effects. The bitterness, however, is long, strong and rooty, with a somewhat tonic water-like resonance in the end, while the sour traces of lemony flavours linger, as does that 'sparkly' minerality not coming from actual sparkling. Altogether different from what I was expecting, but as a whole, definitely a fine geuze with a citrusy twist and more bitterness than average. It did not blow me away like Griotteke did, though.

8.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

Shortlived head, leaving some lace over fully hazy ochre-straw beer. Putteke, horseblanket, farmyard, stonefruit - if a bit overripe -, Bretts, clay. Sourish, and agin this clay thing. Lemonpeel, dry leaves and horseblanket. Straw, hay, green apple. The hops only appear in the very end, retronasal, with a (sourish) grapey flavour. Classic, well-carbonated, slick. Excellent. Timmermans are acting inspired, going from strength to strength.

9.6

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9.5 | Flavor - 9.5 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5

Vintage 2008/ Limited Edition Bottle. Delivered on 16.11.2011 from Beer Planet (Bruxell). Price was 8,50 EUR. Alc was 5,5%. A wiec 17-to letni lambick, trzymany 14 lat w piwnicy zabezpieczonej kamerka ukryta wsrod licznych sloikow z przetworami, trzeba jak sie ma takie skarby. Otworzone przy utworze 14 years Guns N' Roses butelka zaladowana do koszyczka Cantillona od Pani Ewy, ktora specjalnie przywiozla go dla mnie z Brukseli, nawet z koszulka. No ale wracajac. do oceny, coz wystarczy popatrzec na zdjecie zrobione podczas objadu (pieczony dorsz w smietanie z kurkami i suruweczka z czarnej rzodkwi, zakwaszona cytryna). Zakwaszona surowka to slowo klucz. To piwo jest kwasne wytrawne i po prostu GENIALNE. Nie ma co pisac wiecej. o samym smaku, aromacie nie bede pisal, pozostawiam to waszej wyobrazni. Jedej z najlepszych w swoim stylu. Master Oude Gueuze.

6.5

On tap @ Proeflokaal Reijngoud. Nice classic dry Geuze with funk, wood, lemon, apple and some bitterness. Not the best sample of the style, but fair and drinakble.

6.9

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

Kwg at The Bolter, City of London. Opaque amber. Thick foamy. Aroma is sweet strawberry with a herbal edge. Flavourwise is similar- sweet juicy strawberry, tempered by a thyme edge. Light. Thin. Slick. Soft carbonation. Long dry somewhat astringent. Easy drinking Lambic.