3F Oude Gueuze Vintage

Maybe this is splitting hairs, but I'm pretty sure the "Nightlights" red label was first made for the 1998 50th Anniversary batch.

I thought the Millennium (7%) and the 1999 (6.5%) December 31 screenprints were collaborations with De Cam. These are clearly different than the regular Oude Gueze because the pre-2002 the ABV was only 5%

I've never heard that these special batches continued as the OGV series. If true, that's really interesting because the OGV and OG are both the same ABV at (6%), so one less data point in which to differentiate them!

 

Keep in mind that rules on ABV for lambics in Belgium are really loose, I believe you can be off by a full percentage point (though it may be 0.5, I read this a while ago). So I think they just make a guess and throw the ABV on there, because they just need to get close. I wouldn't read too much into ABV changes.

Regardless, I've heard both that the OGV line from 2002 on is the continuation of what they did for 50th, '99, and Millennium, but also that they're different. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the latter two were collabs with De Cam, the style of the screenprint is so similar to De Cam's labels...

 

The '99 wasn't a blending collaboration with De Cam. If it was that's the first time I've ever heard someone say that. It doesn't say anything about it on the bottle. The Millennium has both of the blender's signatures on it.

 

I had always assumed the 1999 6.5% screenprint was a DeCam collaboration because its almost the exact same label as Millennium/De Cam.

 

I just looked at my bottle and the only person's name on it is "Armand en Guido Debelder". I was at an event where Willem opened a Millenium and talked about it's creation. He would've mentioned collaborating on the '99 blend if he did.

 

"Lageren" is Dutch for "aging". Probably a little SNAFU from a Dutch native speaker there

I'm still holding on to a spare bottle of 2002 OGV yellow label. I'll most likely end up drinking it myself, since apparently these are undervalued immensely trade-wise for how good they are.

It's a full percent either way, so if the beer's actually 5%, it can be as low as 4 and as high as 6 on the label.

 

I would do bad things to get that bottle, but I doubt I have anything you'd consider the appropriate value.

That's what I remembered. Now if only I could remember why I was reading the Belgian standards for beer labeling in the first place...

 

Ah, well that explains why I've always felt that Cantillon must be about 4% (for LP-K/Classic at least), based on how I feel after finishing a 75cl bottle! That is, I always end up thinking "no way that was a 5% beer", as I feel almost *nothing* alcohol-wise...