A-Z Of Beer Styles: Gueuze

Many brewers are incredibly exacting about the ingredients they use and the way they make their beer. Specific varieties of hops are imported, strains of yeast are taken from famous breweries and clear local spring water is used. Lambic beers have a more random and chaotic approach. They use stale hops and instead of using a specific strain of yeast to trigger fermentation, they are left exposed in large shallow vats. Here wild yeasts in the air settle on the beer to trigger “spontaneous fermentation”. The beers are then left to ferment over a number of years giving range of different flavours. There are only a handful of lambic brewers, all of whom are based in the Senne valley in Belgium near Brussels.

Lambic beers are presented with an old world charm. Their brewers talk about cobwebs hanging off the ceiling and proudly claim that health and safety officers would have a seizure if they were allowed in. An excellent example of the lambic brewers craft can be found at the Cantillon brewery in the outskirts of Brussels. Now more a working museum than a commercial brewery you can guide yourself around and see the cooling trays, the rows of barrels and the piles of green glass bottles.

Gueuze is the traditional way that you will find lambic served. It is made by blending older lambic that has been ageing in barrels for many years with a livelier, younger lambic. The old lambic has a complexity and depth of flavour but is usually flat while the young lambic gives the beer its fizz. A key part of the skill of making gueuze is selecting the different barrels to blend together. Each will add slightly different flavours that the brewer must select from in order to achieve quality and consistency. The combination leads to an additional round of fermentation for the older beer which generally continues in the bottle. You will often find both a cork and a cap on top of these beers to make sure they don’t try to escape.

You can expect the beers to be dry, sour and somewhat fruity with a complex range of flavours and each brewer has its own distinct taste. Cantillon has an acidic grapefruit flavour with a hint of sweetness whilst Drie Fonteinen has lemons and apples to it. Girardin has a more rounded sourness to it, and Lindemanns showpiece Cuvée Rene beer is simply filthy in a way that will either delight or disgust. Mort Subite feels like a refreshing cider whilst Oud Beersel feels like a light blonde Belgian ale when the sediment is poured from the bottle.

The traditional versions are usually called oude gueuze and come in at around 5% abv, whilst the smooth Mariage Parfait from Boon clocks in at a very robust 8%. On an initial tasting you are likely to find gueuze strange or off-putting, making you think of cider gone weird. If you adjust to the taste it will be able to savour what is thought of as the champagne of beers.

Five to Try -
1. Girardin Gueuze 1882
2. Cantillon Gueuze
3. Drie Fonteinen Oude Gueuze
4. Lindemans Cuvée Rene
5. Boon Geuze Mariage Parfait