Bottle. Color: Hazy golden, white head. Aroma: Tart, fruity, funky. Taste: Over moderate tart, vinegar notes but also a little sweetness. Subtle rural funk. Oak wood. Hints of hay. Fruity citrus, lemon and gooseberry. Dry mouthfeel. Medium body, just below average carbonation. Pretty much carbonation for a Geuze. Ok.

Spiced 'geuze' (so technically not really a geuze but a flavoured lambic blend indeed) by Sako, a small brewery in the Pajottenland region which has meanwhile discovered lambic as a new source of income; bottle from Huis van de Geuze, shared with Goedele. Lots of pressure on the bottle but no gushing. Thick, bath-foam-like, snow white, plaster-like lacing, very firm and stable head on a cloudy yolk-yellow beer with greenish tinge, turning murky beige in the end. Aroma indeed very spiced, lemon-scented hand soap, ground ivy, wet leather, lemonbalm, even something lavender- or mint-like, lemongrass, overripe cucumber, coriander (?), freshly fermented farmland, dust, straw, pumice, sorrel. Lime-like sourness in the mouth, persistent yet softish and not too 'neig', cucumber and stewed rhubarb notes, lots of cava-like carbonation with supple, if somewhat thinnish mouthfeel; pale malts and slick, even soapy wheat under ongoing lime sourishness, lactic dryness and soft woody tannins, until this whole spice effect returns, providing ethereal retronasal aromas most reminiscent of ground ivy, coriander seed and lemonbalm but also adding a somewhat astringent bitter effect. Earthy, herbal, sour-bitter finish with lingering soapiness. Ground ivy came to mind several times - the actual herbs are not disclosed - so for all I know, they could have harvested it from their garden and thrown it in the kettle, along with - probably - something else, which could well be coriander seed... I have no idea what actually went in here, but such herbal lambics never really did it for me and this one is not going to change my mind, I am afraid. Moreover, the lambic base beneath the herbaceous effects seems thin, unbalanced and lacking in complexity, which is why I am hesitating to buy their regular geuze... Lambic is of course something very specific and demanding, and frankly I do not have the impression that Sako already has it well under control so far. Wait and see what happens...

Before the still very local Sako brewery began dabbling in - sometimes strange - lambic experiments, they (like Herberg) brewed small-scale traditional Belgian ales, and this Monnik Bosbier is one of them. Oddly enough, the label says "brewed for Sako brewery", which worries me a bit - does the "for" means that this was actually brewed some place else? Anyway: thick and frothy, snow white, shred-lacing, moussey, dense and stable head on an initially very lightly hazed, pure golden blonde robe with pale orangey tinge and disparate sparkling, more hazy and a tad more orangey with sediment. Rather unappealing aroma of ripe banana, overripe pineapple, overcooked broccoli (DMS and even strongly so), overripe pear, bath foam somewhere, pale honey, candy apple, sugared potato mash somehow (!), clove, coriander, iron (and quite heavily so in the end, as confirmed by the classic 'hand test'), rotten sugar beet, powder sugar, hints of low quality calvados, rubber and grass. Sweetish onset, overripe pear and overripe pineapple returning amidst cooked apple and banana ester, prickly carbonation with minerally effects, iron showing up before the middle with added metallic effect, rounded mouthfeel; alcohol too is noticeable early on and even astringent before its time. Cereally pale malt sweetishness in the middle with powder sugar-like residual sweetness on top and wheat slickness below, phenolic spicy elements (clove, parsley) join in towards the finish and then a floral, grassy hop bitterish note tries to add a bit of balancing dryness - but fails. Coriander soapiness sits somewhere in between all that overripe yellow fruit, but the DMS factor proves stronger, ruining the few redeeming qualities that were there with its cooked cabbage-like effects; the worst, however, is still to come at that point, in the form of very badly hidden, 'graanjenever'-like, astringent and even heating alcohol, adding a wryness dominating the finish and making the whole experience even less pleasant than it already was. A tripel can and should have a soothing alcohol glow, but not this obvious... I have a few of Sako's new lambic experiments in my collection at this moment and I am eager to dive into them, but one thing is for sure, and that is the fact that I will happily pass on their top-fermented beers from now on - this is the second time those severely disappoint me. This Monnik Bosbier, already a sweet and coriandered cliché tripel in its very conception, is a complete mess, with an overdose of that dreaded DMS, metallic effect due to added iron, rotten fruit aromas and obnoxiously wry alcohol - in fact this beer could be used in zythologist classes as a textbook example of all the technical flaws one can encounter in a beer. If this was indeed brewed by another brewery for Sako, then I recommend them to end the contract immediately and start trying to make something interesting out of it themselves. Idle hope, I know.

Bottle. Gusher. Color: Hazy orange amber, white head. Aroma: Sweetish for a Geuze. Light tartness. Fruity notes and some Bourbon. Funky hints of leather. Taste: Moderate to over moderate tart combined with moderate sweetness, Fruity sweet and sour apple, notes of oak wood and subtle Bourbon. Medium body, just below average carbonation. Dry-ish mouthfeel. Tannins. A little bitterness at the finish. Leathery funk hints, mostly at the finish. Nice one, although in some way I'm missing that typical Geuze feeling.

bottle. Color: Hazy pale golden, large white head. Aroma: Elderflower, citrus and funky hints. Taste: Light to moderate tart, again a lot of floral elderflower, some citrus, lime. Funky hints and some wood. Light sweetness. Just under medium body. Just above average carbonation. Fizzy. Dry-ish finish. A bit thin. Mwah. Maybe still a bit too young... I've had far better elderflower Geuze.

bottle. Color: Hazy pale golden, white head. Aroma: Subtle tart, funky and herbal. Taste: Light to moderate tart, herbal / spicy (mint-like, wormwood?), citrus notes. Funky hints and some wood. Just under medium body, just below average carbonation. Dry-ish finish. A bit thin. Would like to drink a 'normal' Sako Geuze to compare. I'm not convinced yet.

Bag in box @Be Hoppy, Madrid. 20/01/2024. Color amarillo espuma escasa aromas y sabores ácido, cuerpo ligero.

Sampled at Dag Van De Geuze 2023 , 2019 vintage lambic. Pours dark, very unclear amber. Scent is funky, barnyard. Taste is full, very malty, low acidity. Lovely bready finish. I kinda like it, a lot even, but it's acidity is surprisingly low.