My girlfriend and I took a trip to Rehoboth Beach this second half of the week, and got together with Matt (mdaschaf) to do a mini blind Gueuze tasting among other things. It was interesting for me since this was my first "blind" anything. Here were the beers we had: Cantillon Classic Gueuze 2009 Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze 2010 Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze Golden Blend Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label) Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René Just a shot before pouring (bottles placed did not match the cup #'s at this point): The Lindemans we both hoped sort of accomplished two different things. First, we hoped we'd be able to pick it out, and on the same token, hoped in a way it held up against the competition. During the tasting: Here were our ranks in preference with the corresponding blind Gueuze after everything was all said in done. Matt: 1. Cantillon Classic Gueuze 2009 2. Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze Golden Blend 3. Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label) 4. Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze 2010 5. Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René Shane: 1. Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze Golden Blend 2. Cantillon Classic Gueuze 2009 3. Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label) 4. Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze 2010 5. Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René As much as we tried, Lindemans was by far the weakest of them all and easy to pick out. It was thinner and simply lacked the complexity all the other ones showcased. I'm really not surprised how it turned out, aside from the fact we both ranked 1882 higher than the Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze. I never had either before but was pleasantly surprised, since 1882 is pretty available. Anyway, enough of my bantering, this was just a really fun thing to do. If you never had a blind tasting, I recommend doing one. Good times. Cheers!
I recently tried Cantillon Classic, Tilquin Geuze, and Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze at a tasting. I was shocked how much more complex Cantillon and Tilquin were compared Drie Fonteinen. It seems Drie Fonteinen was all funk and no sour.
hhmmm, my thoughts are the opposite i guess. 3F seems very complex to me with cantillon being a big sour bomb.
Boon and 3F are much more complex than Cantillon, IMHO. Cantillon is mostly sour with a hint of funk.
I'm argue that Cantillon is, in general, much less complex than 3F. Yes, it has more acetic acid, but if anything, that just covers up other flavors while 3F flavors are unadultered.
great job..can't wait for my golden blend to arrive.. as for me I love them both and go with which ever I'm in the mood for..some puckering sour ..cantillon.. some mellow earthy tones with a little funk..3 Font...both are exceptional
Definitely. In my opinion, the Golden Blend was wonderfully complex in comparison to the Oude Gueuze. From my notes the Golden had more of a definite funkiness, while the Oude Gueuze seemed to be more balanced, perhaps to the point where it was just too balanced it made everything less than what I expect and personally enjoy in a Gueuze. I was quite surprised I ranked Golden as my #1 and Oude Gueuze was #4 at the bottom half of the list.
This is what I was trying to get across. Regular 3F is very very well balanced and that is not what I am looking for in a gueuze.
I believe her rankings were: 1. Girardin Gueuze 1882 (Black Label) 2. Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze 2010 3. Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René 4. Cantillon Classic Gueuze 2009 5. Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze Golden Blend I don't have her notes but this is from what I recall her saying when we were talking about it. Surprising she enjoyed Lindemans more than we did. I guess that works out for myself and the wallet though!
I think this is interesting but I'm not too surprised by how this turned out. When I have had several sour beers in a row, including a few blind tastings, the most sour or most acetic one's turn out to be my favorite. However when I've had the beers on other days not side by side I have found I prefer some of the ones that aren't as acetic. I remember at Night of the Funk 2 years ago I came home thinking Weyerbacher Riserva was one of the best beers I had there. But after trying it and several of the other beers I had that night there is no way it was as good as some of those others, it was just the most acetic.
Nice report! I did a semi-blind gueuze tasting last year with 3 other guys. All bottles were 375's. The averaged rankings between the 4 of us were: 1. Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze (bottled 2008) 2. Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L’Ancienne (Ref A 1011) 3. Hanssens Oude Gueuze (no dating info) 4-6. (tie) Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze (bottled 2009) 4-6. (tie) Cantillon Classic Gueuze (cork date 2009) 4-6. (tie) Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze (bottled 2010) 7. Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille (best before 2029) 8. St. Louis Gueuze Fond Tradition (bottled on 100120) 9-11. (tie) Boon Oude Geuze (best after 2030) 9-11. (tie) Girardin Gueuze 1882 Black Label (DX 2011) 9-11. (tie) Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René (bottled July 2010) 12. Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait (vintage 2007) We were surprised that the Girardin Black Label ranked so low. Anyone else have bad experiences with the DX 2011 batch? Can't wait to try the Golden Blend!
Just recently cracked one of my L'Anciennes, not surprised at all that Tilquin was so highly enjoyed in your tasting. So delicious, funky, complex.
I just stopped by my favorite bottle shop and cleaned them out of 3F Oude Geuze and Boon Oude Geuze. I'm currently drinking one of the Boon's and while it is pretty amazing I will say that it only barely rivals 3F. I have some Cantillon classic in my cellar as well and I will say it sort of falls in between Boon and 3F for me. Drie Fonteinen geuze has such a complexity and balanced nuance of flavors that I'm not getting with the other two. When it comes to other lambics and fruited sours from Cantillon vs 3F, I do prefer Cantillon.
