Exploring Sours: Leveling up

Our first installment was on the entry – gee that looks interesting maybe I should try it? – level

For this week I went out and scoured the dusty bottom shelves and far corners of the beer freezer to find two new bottles to sample. A special thanks to Lauren from Beerupyourlife for all the Lambic tutoring!

First up was a Nov 2012 bottle of Hannsens’ Oude Gueze:  this one was interesting.  The nose for funky – and at times, skunky.  The skunk also picked up on the taste, which was not a truly bad thing, as the flavor was otherwise as mild as Brux had been.

It poured a hazy and somewhat fizzy yellow and head was minimal.

Very dry and refreshing on the palate, but the hints of skunk kept popping up from time to time to keep you on your toes.

Next up: a 2011 Lindenman’s Cuvee Rene.  Initial thoughts after pouring this hazy yellow bottle, “this was exactly what i was looking for” tart but not abrasively so, dry and refreshing.  In other words, just about perfect.

I can only wonder what a few more years of aging would do with this one.  A thought that will be easy to test as the shop had ample bottles from the same age.  Needless to say, I will be picking up more.

The taste came across again in a very champagne-like manner that just happened to pair up perfectly with the goat cheese, cranberry & candied walnut salad with a balsamic reduction I picked up by chance on the way home.

I am still wanting more of this 750ml bottle.  I am super excited to see what i will stumble upon next (hoping to find the Kriek version next),  but this one I will come back to!