Potations

MillerCoors calls it’s High Life brand the “Champagne of Beers” but I ain’t buying it; that title belongs to a Belgian style of beer called Gueuze.

Gueuze (also spelled “geuze”) is crafted by combining young lambic with aged lambic. The resulting mixture is then bottled, and because the younger lambic is not fully fermented, a second fermentation occurs in the bottle. There is a comparison I could make here about cougars and younger men, but for the sake of common decency I will resist.

But let’s back up a second and talk about what makes lambics unique in the first place. The fermentation of most other beer, that is ales and lagers, is controlled by brewmasters through the artful addition of specific and carefully crafted brewer’s yeasts. Lambics, by contrast are allowed to ferment spontaneously by being exposed to wild strains of yeast and bacteria. As an artist I love the idea of spontaneous fermentation, it’s kinda like the brewer’s version of abstract expressionism.

Now history has forgotten the name of the first brave soul who offered himself up for the first tasting of the first lambic, but his work sacrifice was not in vain; lambics and their kin have brewed in Belgium for the last half millennia.

In the spirit of this same sacrifice I decided to volunteer to taste several gueuze and opine on the experiences. The Keg Liquors carries the largest selection of Belgian ale in the region, so I stopped by and picked up 6 different gueuze to “research”.

I’m starting out with a well-known brand to get this party started:

Lindeman’s Cuvee Rene.

A firm believer in proper glassware, I opt for a long, tulip shaped glass. The beer is effervesent and as I pour the last of the residue rich remains, a beautiful milky-white head appears. This gueuze is dense and cloudy and honey-colored. I give it a nose and get an odd, almost unappealing phenolic / wet animal scent. This quickly gives way upon tasting to a very tart and acidic apple and lemon flavors, tempered with back-notes of freshly cut grass and something reminiscent of black tea. The viscosity is moderate and has a good corporeal feel. I found it very easy to drink and to prove it, I let my wife taste it. She liked it, which confirms it.

All in all a pretty enjoyable representation of the gueuze style, and one I plan on having again.

Check back again next week and I’ll drop some science on the next one: Mead the Gueuze by Hanssens Artisinaal.

:: Mark Palmer ::