Mikkeller: Boon: Oude Geuze (Vermouth Foeders) (Denmark: Gueuze: 6.6% ABV)
Visual: Hazy pale apple juice color with moderate white bubbled head.
Nose: White wine. Dry. Oats. Black pepper. Dried apple. Appetizer. Spritzy notes. Yeast funk.
Body: Apple front. Dry. Dry white wine. Oak. Dried apricot. Slight charring. Yeast funk. Slightly sour. Chalk. Menthol Vanilla.
Finish: Dry white wine. Yeast funk. Mature cheese. Peppery. Dry lemon juice. Apple. Sour. Oaken. Champagne. Slight peppermint.
Conclusion: Ok, I wasn’t expecting this to be so apple touched in flavor. It isn’t cider like, which would be how you may expect apple in a lambic to come across, but more like dried apple chunks that have been left in the mix. Beneath that is a very dry, slightly sour, white wine character. It is a surprisingly intense beer though with notes like pepper, slight charring and oak all coming into the mix. While wood notes aren’t unusual in a lambic, this definitely feels more woody than most and more spritzy with it. It has a fizzy mouthfeel that comes across through the dryness.
The rougher edges make it feel like a prickly beer – sour and peppery edges over a white wine and lightly menthol to peppermint touched base. As these settle a vibrant yeast funkiness rises – mature cheese notes complement by the pepper to create a fuller and more rewarding mouthfeel and taste.
It always feel slight sour though – very dry and mouth tingling with an unusual set of minty notes freshening and accentuating the dry base. Its a good look if a tad rough around the edges. It ends up feeling even more mouth freshening that even a lot of other geuzes, which is saying something. At its best it is wakening, at its worst it as an almost freshly cleaned teeth feel – though less gross than that sounds. What makes it work is it never loses that apple character – it is not as strong after a while, but it is definitely the most pleasant characteristic and gives a lot of charm to the beer.
It is definitely an acquired taste – the more peppermint like elements take a while to grow on you. For me it was good but a tad too menthol fresh. I’d go for other geuzes to return to, but this one was definitely interesting.
Background: A vermouth foeder aged lambic? Interesting. I’m not a huge drinker of vermouth, but aware of it enough that this intrigued me. Boon tend to be excellent with their geuzes and a collaboration with Mikkeller tends to add to the quality, so when I saw this at Independent Spirit I grabbed it. Not much more to add – got a whole bunch more lambics and sours to come, what with the recent Cantillon bottle pick up at Zwanze day – so if you like these sort of notes more are to come. Was drinking this the day after a mind blowingly awesome and energetic Crossfaith gig so put their tunes on. Genuinely the highest energy live show I’ve been to in years. If you get the chance and like electronic dance-metal mash ups, definitely give them a go.
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