Yet another of Oud Beersel's long string of experimental lambics that made it into the Sparkling Infused series, i.e. bottled and refermented to create, indeed, sparkling. Bottle from the brewery, opening with a loud bang, but not a gusher. Initially quite thick and frothy, egg-white, fluffy head, audibly and visually fizzing away slowly; hazy apricot blonde robe with ochre hue, turning deeper peachy and more clouded in the end. Aroma of indeed recognisable Earl Grey tea with fascinating side effects of matcha, dried dill, halfdried tobacco leaf, bergamot and sage next to the more familiar lime zest, wood sorrel, dry hay, dried grapefruit peel and something interestingly fresh seafood-like in the background. Lively and juicy, tart onset, citric with lime and yuzu impressions over green apple and green gooseberry, drying and softly yet importantly astringent, with refreshing and welcoming carbonation and vinous body. Dry bready core under lactic, citric and green-stonefruity 'acids', sour but nowhere harshly so, instead very crisp with this added layer of tea becoming proncouned in the finish; retronasally, the tea element brings this bergamot-, dill- and sage-like herbalness back and in the mouth, it strengthens the tannic effects of the wooden barrels. Some hay-like funkiness is present. This herbal tea flavour is very outspoken - as in its original non-bottled lambic form - but it manages to blend into the funky and fruity aspects of the lambic wonderfully, creating a rich, appetising and entertaining whole. Powerful and idiosyncratic, and capable of convincing even me, not the greatest tea lover (though not its most passionate hater either). Even writing this review days after having tasted the beer, thinking of it again makes my mouth water... I love this series - and Oud Beersel in general.

Bottle. Color: Clear orangish golden, white head. Aroma: Citrus fruit, some floral and hop notes and funk. Taste: Lime, some grapefruit, floral and hop notes, some oak wood and leathery funk. Moderate tart, light bitterness going toward moderate at the finish. Medium body, average carbonation. Nice.

Draught Small, if persistent dense white head over hazy yellow-orange beer. Old wood, lambic drenched; lemon, lactic, restrained horseblankte, marigolds or lilies. Very dry woody flavour, straw, again restrained horseblanket. Lemon(peel), yuzu. Lipsmacking acidity, dry, acidthinning and (mild) -burn. Quite wheatslick. Very good gueuze indeed. But I'm totally at a loss what might represent the international contributions.

One of three new Oud Beersel geuzes containing lambic that has aged on non-beer barrels, in this case rum; these special lambics have already been presented to the public in 'pure', unblended form during last year's Billie beer festival in Antwerp. Thick, frothy, egg-white, crackling, firm, lacing head slowly diminishing over a warm apricot-tinged yellow blonde robe, misty but with a 'storm' of fierce sparkling rushing through, sustaining the head. Aroma with a strong wood factor (oak furniture), dry old walnuts, grapefruit zest, unripe nectarine (strong), green plum, indeed a whiff of coconut-ish rum here and there but subtle (and actually accentuating the vanilla quality of the oak wood more than displaying its own aroma), dry haystacks, old jute rope (Brett), peach kernel, dusty wooden attic, touch freshly fermented farmland further on. Zesty, spritzy onset, very fizzy from champagne- or even mineral water-like effervescence, shuffling up impressions of grapefruit flesh, unripe stonefruit and kumquat, smoothly moving into a supple cereally and dry-lactic sour middle, feeling much lighter than the ABV would suggest and keeping the overall estery fruitiness lively and bright all the way through, with this high level of minerality (even for the style) persisting equally strongly. Woody tannins become very strong in the finish, Brettanomyces funkiness creeps up retronasally (old onions, wet jute, leather - or indeed 'horseblanket') and a subtle rum-like mingles with the fruitiness (still remarkably bright at this point), before old hop bitterness kicks in to round things off whilst reinforcing the woodiness and ensuring a bone dry ending. The rum element is present enough, but behaves rather discreetly: it accounts for a soothing alcoholic warmth in the finish (but in a pleasant way, because the alcohol does not appear earlier in the flavour 'parcours'), it accentuates the oakiness and the zesty fruitiness of the whole, but it does not throw its coconutty flavour right into your face - though this particular flavour does pop up retronasally every now and then and also lingers after swallowing. I had great confidence in this new series of barrel aged Oud Beersel lambics and my trust in this master lambic blender was not at all displaced: I generally think Oud Beersel is still a bit underrated and this one, with its application of a rum flavour and booziness in such a way that it enriches the geuze without 'fighting' it, is yet another living proof. A beautiful treat for the true geuze afficionado - I cannot wait to try the cognac and calvados versions, which to me personally are probably even better, as I am not the greatest rum fan...