Rueuze Reserve
The Bruery Terreux

2019 vintage

A: Poured into a tulip glass to a nice golden yellow beer which is topped by a dense and slightly rocky two fingers of white head which fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of pleasant lemony sourness, some oak and a little funk
T: Taste is funky and sour up front with some cracker like malt and some drying oak. On the finish there's more lemony sourness, some oak, and some lingering funk
M: This beer has a body which is on the lighter side of things and does feel a little watery at times. Carbonation is lightly effervescent and adequate for the style while the acidity gives this beer a drying finish.
O: Overall this beer is great. It's not in the tasting notes, but there's a lot of subtle flavors going on once my palate got a little more acclimated to the acidity on this one. It also seems to have held up well to me sitting on it for a few years.

thought this might include some older beer in the blend than the original, but it sounds like its just more preferred barrels combined, which is rad, its been so long since i had the original that its really hard to compare, and my knowledge of and passion for lambic types has certainly matured since then as well, but i remember being so wowed by the original, and this actually felt a bit more pedestrian compared with my memories of how i felt drinking that all those years ago, which shouldnt take away from this special blend, and it doesnt, but the way i think about and rate beer has also changed a lot. part of me expected this to be brighter and lighter, both in terms of looks and in terms of feel, its halfway from blonde to orange, it has some light haze, and the head doesnt last long, lightly muted looking, fuller, and a bit sedimented. the nose and taste are awesome though, especially the nose, full maturity, lambic funk abounds, light oxidation, almost a green glass thing even on the draft, woody as can be, lots of white wine and yellow florals, some ripe stone fruit and green apple, modest grain sweetness in an almost granola fashion, raw wheat apparent too, good minerality, musky bretty and weird in a good way, well blended for sure, different vintages likely, a nice coming together, very complete and complex. neat wood profile throughout, some light vanilla and definite vinous character, drier at the end than it ever is anywhere else too, less rich on the swallow, still good body for what it is, and more bubbles than it looks like it has. the acidity is quite high overall, more than piquant, and that comes out more and more as this warms, a full pour was on the edge of too much, but its hard not to be impressed with this. maybe not their most compelling lambic type ever, but a treat to drink and an obvious rarity that was cool to experience. they get so much attention for their stouts and barleywine types, but these hit as hard as any of them when it comes to quality and complexity. slight tip of the cap to the original over this based on old memories, will have to revisit that one to confirm, also will need to try the bottled version of this, curious about the green glass and presumed bottle conditioning...

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Straw-yellow color with a medium sized head that subsides to a thin white cap. Nothing to change here.

Smell: Moderate barnyard funk and mild grassy hay notes.

Taste: Moderate lime/citrus notes, mild hay notes, mild leather notes, and mild barnyard funk notes come through in the taste. The beer finishes fairly dry with a hint of lemon on the tail end.

Mouth-feel: Light to medium bodied with a medium level of carbonation. Nice for the style.

Overall: A nice take by the Bruery Terreux on a gueuze. I feel I would still rate Spontanaheim over Rueze Reserve but that's no slam on this beer.