Style: Gueuze
Brewery: Gueuzerie Tilquin
Origin: Wallonia
Size: 75cl
Alcohol: 7%
Price: 136kr
Systembolaget: 10826
I find gueuze to be one of those styles that splits people equally: either you love it or you hate it. Made by mixing new (1 year old) and old (2 or 3 year old) sour beers together, the extreme acidity and tartness of beers in this genre can be seen as delicious or extremely unpalatable. I would say it’s one of the most important styles of beer that originate from Belgium and Tilquin are known for being a quality blender, so I had to have one of their beers in the tasting. Just as I expected, it split the guests opinions completely.
It had a light amber colour, with a dense white head that dissipated rather rapidly. Highly carbonated and medium bodied, the appearance checked all the right boxes. The aroma was strong, with big citrus, white wine vinager, wood and apple notes leaping from the glass. The taste was similar, with a sharp tartness instantly covering the tongue. Elderflower, vinager, lemon, sulphur notes along with a tang that can only be described as barnyard were all noted upon sipping. The aftertaste carried over the acidity, with a sharpness surviving in the mouth for a long time, which also made the mouth water.
As I thought it would, some people thought this was amazing and some hardly touched their samples. You need to really like sour beers if you’re going to work your way through a bottle of this. For me, this isn’t something that I would buy for myself, but it was an extremely well-made gueuze so check it out if it’s a style you’re a fan of!