Hanssens Artisanaal

Microbrewery in Dworp, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 🇧🇪
Associated Venue: Hanssens Artisanaal

Established in 1871

Contact
Vroenenbosstraat 15, Dworp, 1653, Belgium
Description
Hanssens Artisanaal is the oldest independent geuze blender in the whole world. At Hanssens, no beer is actually brewed! Instead, they pursue a profession that was very important in the history of lambic style beers, they are solely blenders of beer.

Hanssens takes this a step further, and actually blends batches from different breweries in their area. This used to be a very common practice, but Hanssens is now the oldest remaining blender. They bring to this endeavor a variety of barrels, some up to one hundred years old, and a passion and a love for the tradition of Geuze and Lambics.

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8.5
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8

Bottle shared with In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst, Belgium, 06.10.19. Cloudy red. Persistent white head. Aroma and taste of acids, sour berries and lemon juice. Only a slight hint of black currants is left. Dry, acid and astringent mouthfeel.

Tried from Bottle on 06 Oct 2019 at 10:46


8.3
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Small reddish rim over deep-ruby beer. Cherries, honey, acetic acid, bit floral. Cherries' nose gets intense. Acetic "Stich" upon somewhat sweeter red berries flavour. Acetic old cherry liqueur, as ripened in old barriques. Lactic acid, fruitacids. Very serious acidburn, thinning, yet quite slick. Sharp, nowhere I mals /I. Special one.

Tried from Bottle at Beerlovers Bar on 04 Oct 2019 at 21:53


6

Imported from untappd on 02-05-2020

Tried from Bottle on 02 Oct 2019 at 18:55


7.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

37,5cl bottle (6,5%, bottled 02/2018) from Rob the Gourmets’ Market in Brussels. F: no real, thin pink film, quick gone. C: dark ruby red, hazy. A: sour dark cherries, blackcurrants, bit vinous sour fruity, funky. T: medium body, sour dark cherries, dark berries, quite strong acidity for me to be fully enjoyed, puckering, funky, bit woody, almost no carbonation, good not great for me.

Tried from Bottle on 01 Oct 2019 at 17:16


7.4
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

375ml bottle bought online from Etre Gourmet. Pours opaque deep red to purple with a slim loose head. Aroma: tart sour cherry, light funk, oak. Taste: moderate acidic, tart sour cherry jam, vinous, tannins, earthy, some balsamic vibes. Medium bodied with light carbonation. Dry-ish with sweet 'n' sour cherries on the finish. This is good, full of flavour and thankfully not as face-meltingly acidic as some Hanssens beers

Tried from Bottle on 27 Sep 2019 at 07:08


7.3
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Bottle at home. Pours unclear bright red with thin ring head. Massive jammy red fruits, cherry and raspberries are most outspoken, red currant-like sour berries are a strong third. Strong sour, rusty and mighty sharp down the throat. Theres lacto sour and pure battery acid with a light gluey touch. Pretty rough but at the same time very rich and sweet for a Hanssens. Over medium body and soft carbonation. Though it gets milder when it warms up a little, it also contains flat bitter irony notes reminiscent of blood. Or maybe the sour has given me a nosebleed.

Tried from Bottle on 22 Sep 2019 at 00:10


8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 9

Hanssens, apparently seeking to connect with the current lambic hype, presented this one-off on the occasion of this year's Tour de Geuze, a lambic macerated with raspberries (17%), strawberries (3%), sour cherries (13%) and blackberries (7%) - the first time I see that many fruit species in one single lambic, at least a traditionally made one. Mousy, off-pinkish white, creamy, membrane-lacing head, medium thick but only becoming this 'full' and visually attractive with quite some 'forcing' and, as a result, unstable and quickly reduced to an 'interspersed', wafer-thin ring of mousse with nothing in the middle; initially clear, very bright ruby red colour with vermillion tinge, showing lots of bubbles clinging to the edge of the glass, turning cloudy and more deeply purplish-tinged red with sediment. Strong aroma of cherry wine, raspberry vinegar, unripe sour blackberries, red wine vinegar, moist and decayed wood, soaking wet cherry pits, barnyard, lemon juice, wet saddle leather, dark green tree leaves, sweet strawberry noticeable in the background, stewed sour grapes, damp cellar, sawdust, horse steak juice, old socks, balsamic vinegar, Cherokee purple tomatoes, swimming pool (the cherries, probably), stale sweat (Brettanomyces), musk even. Very sour onset, strong acetic sourness ('volatile' acids) which in combination with the pronounced raspberry flavour has a strong raspberry vinegar-like effect; the blackberries add further acidity with a lemony effect, while the sour cherries seem to add some fleshiness and 'pulpy' fruitiness that actually counters the acidity a bit. Carbonation remains low (almost flat in the end), mouthfeel is slick but bone dry due to the sourness, which continues unabated till the finish, even burning a bit, but still a tad less so than other Hanssens fruit lambics - so I maintain that it is the overload of fruit, especially the cherries, that somehow absorbs a part of the acetic qualities. Strong fruit peel astringency and woody tannins are added in the finish, less fruit seed effects though; pronounced 'funky' effects (the classic horseblanket) from the Brett are noticeable as well but are smothered a bit by all that fruit. Strawberry remains a vague retronasal background note. Ends acetic, fruit-acidic, astringent and bone dry, but still with that cherry fleshiness trying to soften this flavour; bready yeast effects as well as a 'meaty' (medium rare horse steak) protein effect appear in the very end, when the sediment has been added. As a whole, this one clearly exhibits the acetic character Hanssens' fruit lambics are known for (at least in the past years - their Oude Kriek was not this acetic at all in the first years that I drank it), but the generous, fleshy fruit dosage does what it can to counter this harsh effect. The result is enjoyable enough for a lambicophile like myself, and I love how the raspberries and cherries 'crisply' cling to the tongue after swallowing; the lambic is clearly subordinate to the fruit here, which obviously was the intention. Among Hanssens' most interesting offerings so far.

Tried from Can on 20 Sep 2019 at 20:46


7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottle from Geers. Dark reddish, purple colour, very thin layer of foam, disappears quickly. Intense fruity nose, lots of strawberries, raspberries and cherries. Taste is very tart, lots of lemon, vinegar, balsamico along with sweet fruity hints. Again a very tart but fruity lambic from Hanssens.

Tried from Bottle on 16 Sep 2019 at 07:01


7.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle at Gainsbar. Aroma is strawberry, sourness. Nice sweet fruity smell. Taste is very sour at the start, then the strawberry comes in. Pretty nice, but it's a once a year beer I think as I am not sure how well the flavours combine for me.

Tried from Bottle on 09 Sep 2019 at 16:02


7.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Bottle at Grote Dorst, tragically with a hangover. Red amber colour, no head. Aroma is weird, sugar puffs, wheat, bit stinky. Taste is nice, lots of fruit, sour, coats the teeth.

Tried from Bottle on 09 Sep 2019 at 16:02