I’ve had both the Vigneronne and the Saint Lamvinus in their youth. What both my friends and I thought was that they may be best served with some bottle age…especially the Vigneronne. In their youth they are just not as exciting as the basic gouze. The Fou Founne on the other hand is a haunting beer that I am glad to have another bottle of…but it’s pretty damn hard to keep my hands off it.
good to know about the Vigneronne, as I have one lonely 750 of it.
Thank god our local beer garden has a deep cellar and gets all of the young releases. So I try to go out there and buy the ones I can’t get or the one’s that I only get one bottle of. Novare Res is pretty awesome…we may have to go there when you’re in the area as well.
I have no doubt that Me + deep beer cellar + You = lots of wallet damage!
2011 Horal Horal’s Oude Geuze Mega Blend - Belgium, Flanders, Brussels (1/24/2013)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over 3+ hours –
NOSE: bready; slightly tangy/lactic/pukey; hint of Belgian yeast.
BODY: very active carbonation gives a persistent and foamy white head; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: earthy – almost comes across like a tart Saison with attitude, but the lemon/orange tang brings this straight back to Belgian gueuze territory; at 7% alc., this is strong for a gueuze, but the alcohol is well-hidden; sweet white grapefruit note; the more gueuze I drink, the more I realize that, for my preferences, I don’t think any other beer style even comes close to sharing the podium: these beers are just so incredibly fantastic when they’re done right. This particular gueuze is unique in that it is a blend of 8 different lambics – one from each Horal member at the time the blend was created (there are now 11 members of Horal). HORAL is the High council for artisanal lambik style beers (acronym in Dutch for Hoge raad voor ambachtelijke lambikbieren). It was blended at the Boon facility.
You can read HORAL’s Wikipedia page here (there’s not much to it): HORAL - Wikipedia
Posted from CellarTracker
Cool stuff. Interesting that Cantillon is absent from Horal’s ranks…
Cantillon is the only craft lambic brewer that is not a member of HORAL. This was a decision made by Cantillon: Cantillon declined to join b/c they questioned some members’ commitment to traditional lambic and gueuze production and blending (almost certainly with a skeptical eye fixed squarely on the likes of De Troch, Lindemann’s, and Mort Subite).
I remember that story from several years back; I though the resulting Gueuze guild had not formed because Cantillon wasn’t involved. Looks like they rallied the troops. Neat concept regardless.
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2011 Drie Fonteinen “Golden Blend” - Belgium, Flanders, Beersel (2/8/2013)
Color: Amber/Golden Yellow
Smell: Banana, baking bread, and funk
Taste: Lemon, quince, lime, green apple, and mineral
Overall: Outstanding…but not worth the $25 price-tag for a 375ml.
Posted from CellarTracker
Ooof. What made it a ‘special’? The only things I’ve seen at that price range per ml are the Lou Pepe’s from Cantillon and the Experimental series from Hanssens.
Yes, and considering the differences in price and quality between such beers and their “regular” brethren, I haven’t found them to be worth buying. I haven’t had this Drie Fonteinen, but I did just have their regular Gueuze a few nights ago and it was also outstanding (as usual), plus less $ for a 750 than this 375 costs.
I think it’s probably that 25% of this is 4 year old Lambic…in all fairness maybe it was just too much travel for the beer. It was on a delivery truck all day, rode around town in my car for a few miles and had less than 8 hours to settle in my fridge before I opened it. Even if the next bottle is AMAZING…I won’t be buying more at this price.
It wasn’t too much travel, Kirk. I, too, had a bottle of this a couple weeks ago (down in London when Jorge rolled through). The bottling date on our 375mL was Feb. 17, 2011. I believe I paid 18 quid for it (~$30), but I was in a bar, so really it wasn’t too bad of a price. I had the exact same overall impression as Kirk: it’s really good stuff, and it’s not worth the extra tariff when compared to the regular Oude Gueuze from Drie Fonteinen. A Tilquin Oude Gueuze that we had next to it was the better beer, imo…
NV Hanssens Artisanaal Oudbeitje - Belgium, Flanders, Dworp (7/25/2013)
– caged and corked 375mL bottle –
– BBE: Aug. 7, 2027 –
NOSE: strong strawberry aroma; undercurrents of sourness, mango, and oak; not funky; swirling in the glass brings out a slight note of plastic, which disappears quickly
BODY: zero carbonation/no head, even with hard pour; clear, golden orange color; medium-light bodied
TASTE: wow — very sour; medium-light strawberry flavor, which makes me wonder if strawberry might not be the best fruit for a fruited lambic (flavor not strong enough) — on the other hand, I don’t know how old this bottle is, so perhaps age has something to do with this; has some of that really old oak barrel funk to it; a tad pukey as it warms towards room temperature; hint of tart passionfruit. Very good to low-level excellent, but not as good as the best fruited lambics I’ve had. I would buy this again, at the right price (such as the $4 I bought this bottle for): sadly, these tend to be more costly (~$16/375mL) than I think they’re worth. As a fruited lambic: 8.0 – 8.5/10.
Posted from CellarTracker
Nice note.
Picked up a couple of these 375’s a few months back, but haven’t cracked one yet.
Mine have not a pink, but standard label.
As with your note, the (knowledgable & Lambic Loving) seller mentioned very tart.
Maybe I’ll have a Boon Mariage Parfait at hand when I taste this in case a bit of (non-blasphemous!) blending is called for. ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
I’m interested to hear what you ultimately think of it, Rob.
btw, I don’t remember the label on mine being pink (but maybe it was) — I think that may be an oddity of the camera/pic.
Brian,
I’ll post a pic, & brief review of what I have soon.
Sours are my favorite, of many great brew styles, but some of the Really sour ones can be just a little much.
Haven’t had too many like that, but this one sounds like it’s on that track.
Cheers!
A coworker is going back to Bulgaria for a month to see her family, any idea what the presence of Cantillon is in this part of the world? She said she’d try but I’m not expecting much.
The sad thing is that it has come to desperate hopes such as this for many lovers of sour beer to even get their hands on some Cantillon, while so much gets bought up by people who don’t even appreciate it because it’s rare.
I hope she finds some, though. I definitely try to get some Cantillon whenever possible.
2009 Brouwerij Timmermans Oude Gueuze Limited Edition - Belgium, Flanders, Itterbeek (8/9/2013)
– caged and corked 750mL; BBE 2030 –
– tasted non-blind –
NOSE: high-toned – citrusy – orange juice and lemon
BODY: lots of carbonation; slightly hazy yellow-orange color; light to medium-light bodied
TASTE: very sour — lemony; pretty clean for a gueuze, although there is a hint of funk on the finish; not sweet; light orange juice; a bit metallic on the mid-palate; 5.5% abv not noticeable; very good. As a gueuze: 8.0 – 9.0/10
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