Gueuze and Lambics

Beer and Spirits
201

Drie Fonteinen - Oude Kriek Schaerbeekse (Dec. 23, 2011 bottling) - Belgium, Flanders, Beersel (11/11/2013)
– 750mL bottle –
– tasted non-blind from a tulip glass –
– bottled: Dec. 23, 2011; BBE: Dec. 23, 2019 –

NOSE: intense aroma of cherries and medicinal mint; as this warms to room temp., the cherries become more prominent, and the medicinal mint gets less intense; faint whiff of leathery earthiness, too.

BODY: very little head, although a hard pour does produce one that is thin and lavender colored; clear; striking violet-magenta color; medium-light bodied

TASTE: cherries; medicinal numbing agent taste, which I’m finding to be typical of traditionally-made cherry lambics; moderately sour; 5% alc. not noticeable; excellent. As a fruited lambic: 9.0 – 9.5/10



Posted from CellarTracker

202

Wish I could find this. Cheers, man!

203

Take a summer vacation in Maine. It’s on the shelves here.

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I just might.

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additionally, belgiuminabox.com has it in-stock. IIRC, some folks here have ordered from that website with success. Shipping is expensive or reasonable, depending on your POV.

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I’ve had a full cart a few times, but never pulled the trigger. I was able to score a bunch of Cantillon over the Summer from a friend in SF and we have really good Shelton Bros. distribution here, but this I haven’t seen.

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I plan on trying it out when I am in Brussels next summer, and if I like it I will carry home a bunch. In fact, of all the beers I will look for when I am there- that is at the top of the list, I think.

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There are many gueuzes and lambics I’d take over the 3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek, but that’s, in large part, driven by my personal preference for un-fruited gueuzes over fruited lambics.

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Brian,

That may be a reasonable statement…but I think the 3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze…is the best Gueuze on the market for consistancy and quality time & time again. I prefer it over Cantillon yellow lable 90% of the time.

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Kirk,
The 3F Oude Gueuze used to be my favorite Gueuze. Now, I prefer both Cantillon’s 100% Lambic Bio (which recently replaced the yellow label, I believe) as well as Tilquin’s Oude Gueuze L’Ancienne, with the 3F in 3rd place. I wouldn’t kick any of 'em outta bed!

EDIT: just remembered De Cam. I might prefer De Cam over 3F, too.

211

Never heard of De Cam…do you have a photo so I can look for them?

I wouldn’t ever pass up Tilquin, Cantillon, or 3F…but for my preference (in the last two years) 3F has been far more complex. I’e never seen the 100% Lambic Bio from Cantillon yet…maybe it will hit the US market soon.

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That’s the new De Cam label style. Sorry for the bad picture quality — I took it with my iPhone.

Here’s a pic I found online of their old label style:




Cantillon’s 100% Lambic Bio Gueuze

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Thanks Brian, they’re still shooting off the yellow Label here in the US. I wonder if it has to do with importing, label fees, and stuff like that? Time will tell…I’d sure love to see that enter the US market.

Has anyone seen the 100% Bio lambics in the US?

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Is that first picture your stash Brian? If so, I’m humbled with what I used to think was a pretty decent cellar of gueuze. What is the one that appears to not have a label? I have found memories of some gueuze 20 years or so ago without labels found in Brussels.

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All I’ve seen this year has been the 100% Bio, bought 4 bottles.

The Kriek is also 100% Bio now.

216

This week I have tried the Gueuze’s from Cantillon, Girardin, 3F and de Cam. Although all have been very good and high quality (maybe apart from the Girardin), for me the de Cam was kind of a homecoming for me in this categori. The Cantillon is so precise, and almost painfully linear in it’s expression; the 3F being very spontanously fermented and wild on the nose, and will probably put some off (like the Schäfer-Fröhlich wines from the Nahe…?); Girardin, while a nice drink, not so exciting for my taste. For me the de Cam has the full package. Very balanced with lots of energy, but not over the top in any sence. This opinion is based on the tasting of these four Gueuze’s only, as I have not a lot of experience with this kind of beer…

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Both the first and the third pics, yeah. I pulled them from a post I posted last year, after a beer-centric vacation through Belgium and Germany. For fun, here’s that post again:

The haul:

A closer look:

From L to R:
4x 2012 Verzet – Oud Bruin (375ml)
4x 2012 De Dechter van de Korenaar – Peated Oak Aged Embrasse (Ardbeg barrel) (660ml) (previous year’s version, which was finished in Connemara whisky casks, won the 2011 Zythos Consumers Award)
3x St. Feuillien – Saison (750mL)
1x Gouden Carolus – “Hopsinjoor” (750mL)
1x Troubadour – “Magma” dry-hopped amber strong ale (330mL)

From L to R:
1x Petrus – “Speciale” (330mL)
1x Lefebvre – “Hopus” (330mL)
4x Spezial – Marzen Rauchbier (500mL) (2 already consumed)
4x Spezial – Lager Rauchbier (500mL) (1 already consumed)
6x Aecht Schlenkerla – Marzen Rauchbier (500mL)

From L to R:
4x Viven – Porter (330mL)
2x Liefman’s – Goudenband (750mL)
2x Rodenbach (April 2012 bottling) (750mL)
3x 2010 Rodenbach – Vintage Limited Edition (750mL)

From L to R:
4x 2011 Horal’s – Oude Geuze Mega Blend (750mL)
1x Girardin – Gueuze (black label) (750mL)
2x Girardin – Gueuze (black label) (375mL)
1x Hanssens – Oudbeitje Lambik (strawberry) (375mL)
1x Lindemans – Gueuze (375mL)

From L to R:
1x 2010 Timmermans – Limited Edition Oude Kriek (750mL)
3x 2009 Timmermans – Limited Edition Oude Gueuze (750mL)
1x Drie Fonteinen – Schaerbeekse Oude Kriek (Dec. 23, 2011 bottling) (750mL)
3x Drie Fonteinen – Oude Geuze (Mar. 23, 2012 bottling) (750mL) > & > 2x Drie Fonteinen – Oude Geuze (Apr. 27, 2010 bottling) (750mL)

From L to R:
3x De Cam – Oude Geuze (Jan. 2009 bottling) (750mL)
2x De Cam – Oude Lambiek (Jan. 2009 bottling) (750mL)
2x De Cam – Oude Framboise (2012 bottling) (750mL)
3x Tilquin – Oude Gueuze “A l’ancienne” (Feb. 19, 2011 bottling) (750mL)

From L to R:
1x Cantillon – “Vigneronne” Lambic (Muscat grapes) (Nov. 24, 2011 bottling) (750mL)
3x 2008 Cantillon – “Grand Cru Bruocsella” Lambic (Sept. 7, 2012 bottling) (750mL)
3x Cantillon – “Cuvee Saint-Gilloise” Gueuze (June 27, 2012 bottling) (750mL)
6x Cantillon – “Fou Foune” Lambic (apricot) (Aug. 28, 2012 bottling) (750mL) (1 already consumed)

From L to R:
12x Cantillon – Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio (Febr. 3, 2012 bottling) (750mL)

I’ve drank some of those by now, as I didn’t want to deal with the logistics of getting them all back to the States. All told, I have about 40 bottles of gueuze or lambic in our cellar, and about 20 - 30 other beers, too. I’m fairly certain some folks here have an even more plentiful stash than that. [drinkers.gif]

That shiner without the label is supposed to be the 2012 De Cam Oude Framboise, but when the brewer sold it to me even he said he wasn’t sure; he said it might be a special fruited lambic that hadn’t yet been released to the public (it now has), but it tastes like an Oude Kriek to me. So, that’s a long-winded way of me saying, “I don’t know!” All I know for sure is that it’s a fruited De Cam lambic.

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Just the other day, I noticed my local fine beer retailer has some of the Cantillon 100% Bio Kriek in stock. I’ll be trying it shortly. :slight_smile:

219

Now that is a beercation. I usually limit my vacation hauls to around 2 cases. In large part because its such a pain in the ass to deal with that much weight in your luggage but also so my wife doesn’t think I bought too much.

Most of my cellar is domestic, so I always appreciate a good Belgian collection particularly gueuze. I do have this though which is probably the pride of my cellar:
IMG_1609.JPG

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Very nice! I don’t really like Westy 12 (I assume those are the 12’s, although the tops do look green in that picture (which would indicate the Westy 6(Blonde), which I do like)), but that’s mostly b/c I don’t like Quads — just too sweet for me. You should be able to land lots of nice gueuze/lambics in trades if you’re willing to part with some of those.