It Gueuze a little something like this...
Over the last few years we seem to have been amassing small (but perfectly formed) collection of Gueuze with the intention of samping them as part of a Gueuze-y tasting session, but seeing as it it OpenIt weekend we thought we'd pop a cork or two!
Starting with the weakest of the bunch we happily arrive at a favourite of ours Cantillon Gueuze 5% (Bottled 25/9/09).
Poured with a quickly dissipating, perfectly white head with a light golden, straw like colour. The initial aromas were familiar to a lover of the style: notes of horse blanket, straw and lemon sherbet. With a beautifully sharp first sip kicking up lemongrass, vinous grape, juicy lemon/lemon sherbet, and ripe orange with a hint of candi sugar. Juiciness mixed with extreme tart and dryness. As you get further down the glass oak and fruity orange peel becomes much more apparent on the nose. It remains gum-shudderingly tart and moreish down to the last sip. This remains a firm favourite and, deservedly, a world classic beer.
Beer number two comes from the same Belgian stable as the previous beer. Cantillon Rose De Gambrinus 5% (Bottled 17/6/10).We found the aroma of this one a bit softer than the previous gueuze although still some citrus and, oddly, blackcurrant aromas, opposed to the expected raspberry, are apparent on the nose. The sweetness of the raspberry addition has seemed to soften the tartness, and has imparted an almost Ribena-like flavour into the rouge liquid possibly due to the youth of the sample tasted. The label recommends ageing for at least a year before drinking, and this falls just short of that mark, meaning the flavours haven't quite melded to perfection yet.
This said it was still delicious, carrying an array of flavours similar to those in the standard gueuze but with a fruit sweetness, whilst remaining dry, just not quite receding the gums as much as it's less fruity brother.
We intended to get through more of these, but we savoured longer than anticipated and enjoyed these two so much it seemed a waste to open six of the finest gueuze on one afternoon. We've made an executive decision to extend our OpenIt weekend into the week and therefore to prolong the gueuze-y goodness for a little bit longer.
