Forgot to rate this. Bottle. Dark w/pinkish head. Sour finish. It’s lindeman’s you know it.

Draft, pours amber, taste is sweet but not overly so. Wow, a delicious peche, well balanced, great on a summer day, just a fantastic example. all around.

Small, fast dwindling, lightly cream-coloured head over hazy reddish brown beer; some lacerings. Faraway farmyard/horseblanket, hints of chocolate(malt), bit sweet - suggesting corn. Again this hint of chocolate/cacao powder, immediately followed by lactic acid and farmyard flavours, if all mild. Wood, lemon, muddy medlar. I don't get the cognac, however, and there is no alcoholic streak. Acidthinning and light -burn, well-carbonated, medium bodied at best. Original, interesting. But we both preferred the last Lindemans specials. To me, it still is a gueuze, but not everybody agreed.

Ever since I first started to take beer seriously, more than a quarter of a century ago, I have wondered why some old styles are what they are – including the fact that lambic traditionally is always a pale beer… I asked myself more than once why nobody at the time brewed dark lambics, but of course “sticking to tradition and history” is the only reasonable answer to that question, given that the experimental tendencies of the great global craft beer movement had not arrived in Europe yet at the time. The theoretical possibility of ‘dark lambic’ became reality in 2015 with Cantillon’s Zwanze of that year (a “spontaneously fermented stout”) and again in the spring of 2017 with Nocturne, 3 Fonteinen’s very first Twist of Fate; the latter was poured for me by the legendary Armand Debelder himself, who clarified that this experiment of turning lambic into a dark beer had lead to something eerily close to oud bruin (Flemish red), which may be the reason why the idea did not caught on, because what is the point if a whole tradition of oud bruin already exists… In fact I cannot even think of any other examples, at least not within the Belgian lambic tradition – and then suddenly Lindemans comes up with this: a ‘dark geuze’, aged on cognac barrels on top of that. Knowing how refined Lindemans’ special editions often are, I was stoked to sample this one, so big thanks to my neighbour Jo for sharing the bottle! Pale yellowish beige, moussey, medium sized, slowly breaking but generally well-retaining head on an initially clear ruddy brown robe with mahogany glow, hazy further on. Aroma of blackberries, unripe blueberries, sour grapes, dry caramel, brown bread, vanilla-ish oak wood and indeed a whiff of brandy, old wrinkled autumn apples, wet tree leaves on a forest floor (with sediment), touches of balsamico and passionfruit but little Brett ‘funkiness’. Very fruity, tart onset, lots of blackberry, medlar, halfripe plum and apple peel impressions, sour with a sweetish core – and sour in a very ‘malse’, soft way; moderately carbonated with minerally effects but no real ‘champenoise’ effect. Dry-caramelly, brown-bready maltiness, supple and rounded, with vinous mouthfeel and slick wheatiness underneath; the dark malts even briefly and gently provide a toasty bitter accent further on, while this tart ‘autumn fruit’ component remains very dominant, aided by yoghurty lactic sourness. The overall vinosity is even increased in the finish due to the cognac effect; the liquor does not become too strong, though, supporting the ‘grapey fruitiness’ rather than heating it, accompanied by rustic woodiness (even vague ‘oaky vanilla’ retronasally). Supple, tasty and, in all, quite ‘clean’; indeed – unsurprisingly – very oud bruin-like, even in a way reminiscent of Rodenbach Vintage and the like. Interesting beer in my opinion, but that said, if you are looking for an actual dark geuze, this will not live up to expectations, as it clearly lacks the ‘wild’ complexity, effervescence, funkiness and depth a ‘normal’ geuze, if properly done, has to offer. My rating here remains however based on whether I liked it or not, and I sure enjoyed this creation – and intend to keep another bottle in the cellar for a while and see how it evolves.

A small bottle, capped and corked, purchased from Beautiful Beers, for which many thanks, drunk at Dad’s place while home on holiday. 2022 vintage 6.0% ABV. Aroma: sour, Danish blue cheese, hay. Appearance: semi-opaque light amber, 2-3mm. off-white head of tiny bubbles. Palate: light-bodied and very tart, average carbonation; finish is clean and really dry. Taste: lightly-sweet with a powerful sour hit and a lick of old belt. Complex and very well-balanced, not your everyday fare.

A small bottle, capped and corked, purchased from Beautiful Beers, for which many thanks, drunk at Dad’s place while home on holiday. Aroma: a bit of blackcurrant and a bit of 70s era homebrew. Appearance: clear Ribena, a full finger of creamy pink bubbles dissipating rapidly. Palate: light-bodied and dry on the tongue, average carbonation; dry and tangy with lambic character very evident at the finish. Taste: lightly-sweet with a little bit of blackcurrant; dry, well-balanced, very obviously a lambic. Good stuff.