Pours clear amberblonde. Medium large to large white head, stable (very stable for the style!) Scent is funky, brett, citric acidity, asb always with the herberg (or so it seems) a very 'old' profile. Taste is pretty sharp, intense but pleasant acidity. loads of brett, oak (old oak) again that very old lambic profile, rubbery in a way towards the finish, mildly oxidative (towards, but not yet, nutty). Fairly high carbo.
Starts of as a more (compared to) generic geuze, but near the end, it goes quite specific Herberg. Slightly high carbonation. Another really pleasant offering by Herberg !

Pours a deep and dark pruprle, pinkwhite, very stable head. Bottle opened with a big pop, mild gushing, so foam was big at first (bottle might have been slightly to warm) but it goes down to a respecatble, medium-small sized head that stays very stable. Scent is intense on the cherries, but only medium loud overall. Lambic a bit to the background. Taste is definately sharp and acidic, not over the top, but noticably. Lots of cherries, even 'fleshy' by the fruits. Very malty finish. The subtilties of aromas within acidities are a bit lost beneath the acitiy and the cherry. Carbonation is high, but not tóó high just yet. pretty damn solid one, again. Herberg really keeps making positive surprises, don't they ?

New geuze produced by five cousins from the Devillé family who runs Den Herberg, referring to the resistance movements in both World War I and II; the lambic used comes from Den Herberg and Lambiek Fabriek but no further technical details are given as to exactly how it was made (or which of the five cousins did what exactly), alas. Launched during this year's Toer de Geuze. Thick and dense, frothy, egg-white, regular and very firm head sustained by a whirling storm of sparkling churning through a misty deep old-golden robe with apricot glow. Aroma of freshly cut small green apples, raw quince, farmland, dusty old books, petrichor, cobwebbed wooden attic, unripe green plums, wet blue limestone, freshly cut nettles in spring, rowan berries, stale lime juice, wet leather, ricotta salata, grass silage. Crisp, green-fruity onset, Granny Smith apple, unripe plum, gooseberry and lime, acidic round the edges but in a rounded, 'malse' way, with a lemony flavour which persists in a refreshing way without dominating the rest too much; underneath runs quite an outspoken, petrichor-like minerality, enlivened by swirling, yet very fine-bubbled and therefore appropriate carbonation. Supple, soft, 'mals' mouthfeel, bready under these ongoing green apple-, gooseberry- and lemon juice-like flavours, joined by retronasal funkiness - in an outspoken way: wet old leather, farmland, damp haystacks. Woody, cellary and grassy notes pop up, the first linked to a gently drying tannic effect which matches well with this equally strong lemon flavour, both supported by an underlying, late but firm old hop bitterness. Den Herberg and Lambiek Fabriek may be new to the Senne Valley lambic scene - in the face of its long history at least - but this collaborational geuze is a convincing example of how well they have mastered both the art of spontaneous fermentation on the one hand and geuze blending on the other hand: this is a mighty fine geuze, nothing innovative of course (but I was not expecting that anyway), but maintaining huge drinkability due to its perfect level of sourness and the equally perfect balance of that sourness with funkiness, grassiness, woodiness and breadiness. Feels lighter than it is, ticks all the boxes of a classically styled geuze including complexity and balance, and quenches the thirst on a summer day: this meets all the demands one can have on the genre. Even better than I was expecting really.

Geuze commissioned by the family that, allegedly from the mid-eighteenth century up till the mid-twentieth-century ran the once renowned Van Haelen lambic brewery - but of course, contrary to what their website claims, the geuze as such cannot date back to the eighteenth century as geuze itself only originated in the nineteenth century. Anyway: tasted from a 37.5 cl bottle at Den Herberg, who makes this geuze, during this year's Toer de Geuze event. Fluffy, snow white, tiny-bubbled yet slowly opening head on a misty peach blonde robe with ochre tinge. Aroma of green plum, gooseberry, dry hay, stale lemon juice, wet old wood, crabapple, nearly spoiled cucumber flesh but in a 'good' way if you see what I mean, forest weeds, background touch of chlorine, wet leather. Fruity onset, crisp with a lively green-yellow fruitiness of unripe nectarine, green gooseberry and wild apple, topped with a fermented lemon juice-like tartness; medium carb with nice minerality running through a soft, rounded core of cereals under lactic, ongoing fruity and lemony sours. A more rhubarb-like flavour grows in the end, flanked by woody notes, soft leathery funkiness and a late, deeply buried old hop bitter note. The basic geuze formula applied correctly and skillfully - but by now I do not expect anything less from Den Herberg anymore. Accessible and hardly surprising to the seasoned geuze drinker, but entertaining enough.

Herberg's first bottled cherry lambic - one of the Schaarbeekse subspecies, which always creates slightly higher expecations, with this specific variaty demonstrably being the original one used in kriek, before others came into the picture (because cheaper or more easily available); launched during this year's Toer de Geuze event and sampled there from a 37.5 cl bottle with cork. Medium thick, fuchsia-pink, frothy, stable head on a hazy deep ruby red robe with deep purplish glow - just that tad deeper than just deep red, as befits a Schaarbeekse kriek... Aroma of indeed lots and lots of ripe fresh cherries, even ripe purple plum, roses, almond from the cherry stones, a 'green' note of cherry tree leaves, background 'horseblanket' and bitter garden weeds. Crisp, deeply fruity onset, filled to the brim with deep red Schaarbeekse 'griottes', pouring so much deep-red fruitiness that side effects of blue plum, ripe elderberry and grape appear; rich fruity and lactic tartness continues over a medium carbonated, rounded, supple and vinous body, into a cherry-juicy finish with pronounced yoghurty lactic acidity, even a bit lemony, at its edges. 'Weedy' and woody, tannic effects join in, along with this green 'tree-leafy' aspect adding 'wildness' and complexity. Fleshy, juicy, generous and utterly 'genuine': I recall being impressed by Herberg's first attempts at lambic 'tout court' and I had the same experience with this one. Very classic for a Schaarbeekse kriek, ticking all the boxes.