Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label)
Brouwerij Girardin

Pours a slightly cloudy, deep, dark amber coloration with a small, fizzy head. Smells of slightly doughy, caramelly malt and estery fruits, with notes of red apple, apricot and gooseberry, as well as hints of hay, spice, funk and oak. Taste is a great balance of slightly doughy and caramelly malt and rich notes of estery fruit and lighter spice, with notes of red apple, apricot, gooseberry, clove and peppery spice, as well as some musty funk and slightly tannic oak. Finished with a medium tartness and some estery fruit and spice, as well as musty fubnk and oak lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbontion.

While this stands on its own very well, it certainly is by far the best value for money I ever encountered when it comes to Gueuze, although your mileage may vary. I paid 4€ for this 375ml bottle and honestly enjoyed it better than some more established and expensive examples of the style. It's a bit more malt-forward than your average Gueuze, which is not a bad thing at all in my book, while being quite funky, with a certain musty, leathery quality to it. The esters are coming through nicely as well, quite fruity, with hints of spice, while are also some tannic, oaky accents to this. Overall, this makes for a very nice, quite funky and estery Gueuze that feels rich and well-balanced.

375ml bottle into a tulip. 2014 vintage.

Looks okay in the glass. Dull burnt orange body, on the hazy side. Brief bubbly head, but this quickly dies out, no lacing.

No getting anything on the nose, good or bad.

On tasting, all the elements are there, a little funk, sour, faintly tart, some bitterness, underlying fruit. However, the combination is a little bias towards bitter sour.

Mouth between medium and full, finish dry sour bitterness.

Overall, had hoped for better. There was some brownish goo around the cork, so perhaps something was off?

 

 

 

Displaying beautiful gradients of foggy amber under a dense khaki head that slowly settles to a persistent blanket and unevenly curled collar, I can tell this pour at the renowned Avenue Pub of New Orleans is going to be a wonderful one.

Delicious qualities of toasted sesame seed and oaky funk meet the dichotomously attractive attributes of skunky aged hops. It's just super fluffy, just as the old lady described it, developing a sort of peach-grapefruit note as I dig in. Further on, as it warms, we also detect a touch of pepper and golden raisin.

The full, fluffy yet airy body delicately glides to a semi-dry finish.

I wish I had more time and room in my stomach for a few more of these.

A: Pours a golden orange copper color with 2 fingers of head that quickly fades down to a tight, thin cap that has remarkably good retention

S: A good bit of funk and tartness up front along with some fruity notes such as apple, pear, and white grape

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with a mix of funky tart notes, fruit, and wood. A bit of some earthy mineral qualities as well. Finishes with lingering funk, fruit, and earth

M: Medium bodied with moderate, tight carbonation

O: A classic gueuze that lives up to the name. Definitely not the most funky or tart that I’ve had, but it allows for the other qualities to shine a bit. Worth checking out if you’re into the style

 

 

375ml bottle, 2020 on the cork, no discernible date on the label, poured into a Tilquin Gueze tumbler glass.

The beer pours a hazy copper color, amber hues with a few bubbles rising to the top of glass where a finger of off-white head rests, moderate retention with no significant lacing. The aroma is nice, pleasant funk, earthy, grassy, lightly floral with a nice berry fruit quality and some pale grain and mineral water. The flavors are nice, lots of earthy funk, grassy, floral, dry dead leaves, mild barnyard qualities, mineral water, cereal grains and a nice bright fruit quality, berries and tart pitted stone fruits. The mouthfeel is good, coating and very lively, crisp medium body that has a nice heft and a tart and dry finish.

Verdict: A nice Gueuze from Girardin. Lots of nice funk, pleasantly tart and offering a complex spectrum of flavors.

 

 

 

 

Rerate, 750 ml green "champagne" bottle, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5%. Deep golden to orange colour, moderate white head. Sourer and even more complex flavour than noted upon first sample. Tart finish, some bitterness. Original rating: At Copenhagen Beer Festival. Hazy golden colour, sparkling. Decent aroma of brettanomyces (sour fruit, farmhouse, horse blanket), but not extreme. The medium sour flavour has also the typical brettanomyces character, but fairly well balanced and not too extreme. Should work well as a beginner’s gueuze.

 

When I popped the cork, there was a nice bit of smoke clinging around the neck of the bottle. It pours a nice apple color. Somewhat clear. 1 1/2 finger slightly off white head. The head retention is poor. The head dissipates to a nice ring around the edge of the glass, that rides up a bit on the edge. No lacing otherwise. There's some carbonation rising in the glass as I watch it.
The nose is a really wild, and complex funky aroma. There's a bit of apple here, more of an apple cider aroma. There's a farm aroma here - no not cow pies - like a straw/hay aroma. Some floral aromas here as well.
Taste - Very wild. Up front it seems more into the funky floral that I was getting on the nose. I also get some lemon flavor up front. The apple cider seems to be a back flavor that lingers.
The body reminds me of champagne - really bubbly, and crisp. Somewhat "dry". Crisp feeling.
I do not have much experience with this style, but I think this is a good representation for this style. I'm enjoying it.

Orange, lightly veiled. Foam, white, good.
Smell. Gueuze. Good. Gueuze. Good.
Citric, lemon.
Taste, very, very satisfying.
Tasting notes? No. Great Gueuze.

 

 

2020 on the cork so I'm assuming it is this year's batch, poured into an Allagash chalice

L: Uncorked with a solid pop and poured a beautiful clear orange/amber with a tall foamy white head that slowly dissolved into a thick film
S: Sort of a mild cheesy smell with hay, citrus, barnyard, a little fruit, and a dash of cider vinegar
T: Some ripe cheese with horse blanket and stable, some lemon, some apple, another fruit I couldn't identify (apricot?mango?), yeasty musty funkiness, finished with a dash of black pepper
F: dry and full, with a leathery/oaky feeling over the tongue and sliding down the throat
O: An excellent example of a gueuze. Medium body, relatively low tartness, satisfying without being filling. I'll cellar my second bottle and see how it is next year.

Somehow never reviewed this, cork has 80905, I assume from 2005
I slightly twisted the cork and it popped out loudly and hit the ceiling, but didn't foam over, light fizzy pink head with low retention, avoiding pouring the funk at first yields an almost crystal clear amber orange color with some light sediment

Nose brings a nice cheesy funk, plenty of bacteria souring and Brett funk, little musty wet blanket and barnyard funk, touch grassy hay, and a little fruit notes, not as complex as some of the greats

Taste brings a bit of oxidation papery notes, but plenty of wet blanket and barnyard funk, as well as the cheesy funk and souring bacteria, a little fruitiness and nice souring acidity, a touch yeasty note, oxidation gets little much, mild flemmy finish, big funk on the finish

Mouth is med to lighter bod, big acidity and a little flemmy, med foamy carb

Overall a nice beer and sour funky, not a little watery and a little oxidized, not quite as complex as the big hitters, but still tasty

 

APP -deep gold and hazy

AROMA - musty, slightly catty, ureic acid - not into it

FLAVOR - bright lemon with over-ripe pineapple

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from fridge temp into a Cantillon Gueuze glass. Lots of head on a typical Belgian pour (aggressive). Tons of bubbles continue to rise to the top, even when the head has disappeared. A nice transparent orange color to the beer. Nose is funk, sour cherries, horse blanket, citrus (lemon!), and some lactose/vanilla. Taste follows the nose nicely. Not too mouth-puckering. More of a subtle sourness, with a bitterness on the back end. Definitely nice notes of lemon, floral, grass, leather bitterness, funk, peaches, grapes, and some wheat. Mouthfeel is fairly thin and dry. Very good gueuze!

 

 

Solid orange golden color with a thin head that is short lived.
Nice aroma for a Gueuze with notes of apricot, nice funkiness, white pepper and grapefruit with lemon.
Flavor with notes of grapefruit, lemon, earthy, floral and spicy hops, some wood, pleasant funkiness, mango-apricot and chardonnay wine. Dry aftertaste with an elegant sourness finish.
Light body with perfect carbonation of tiny active bubbles that becomes slightly effervescent after laying down on my tongue.
Excellent beer with good complexity. One of the most refreshing and balanced Gueuze I had, no excessive acidity and with lots of citrusy and even some tropical fruits. If I could buy where I live at the same price, I did in a large beer store near Antwerp, this would be part of my regular go-to beers.

 

 

It was hot here in Texas and this Geuze was very refreshing and tasty.

Look: golden slightly orange with a thick white head

Aroma: lemon, apple, some yeast/funk

Flavor: The flavor is lemon, apple, maybe apricot, som brett funk, perhaps some oak tannins, and a very slight earthy bitterness at the end.

Body/Overall: light to medium body

 

 

Unknown vintage; drank 8/3/19 @ the Yarchives.

Cloudy dark orange appearance.

A slow pour yielded a small, noisy white head which quickly dissipated; almost no lace.

Apple cider, tart mango, mild funk & faint black pepper notes in the nose.

Medium mouthfeel.

Tart mango & funk flavors up front; mild black pepper bite on the finish.

I found the black pepper aspect a bit distracting, but overall a fine gueuze. I'd have another.