Timmermans Oude Limited Edition (Gueuze)

I don’t know the difference between an Oude and a Gueuze, but I do know that this beer surprised the heck out of me.  Since I’m still learning all the Belgian breweries, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was buying here…the label says “Lambicus made in the worlds oldest Lambic brewery.” OOOOK, seems like a Lambic to me, but the beer hag assured me that it was a sour.

She was right. Deliciously  right.

Open this bottle and it pops like champagne, with beer flowing out over the edge. Damnit, this is expensive stuff ($15 for a 750mL) to waste, but I quickly got it into a tulip to control the head.

The head died very quickly, leaving no bubbles, but a ton of carbonation on the taste. The beer had virtually no smell at all, but if I were to have to identify anything, it’d be biscuits.  Neat stuff, and definitely a sour…not a fruity or balsamic-y sour at all, but more of a mineral sour.   While I was trying to figure out the flavors, I kept coming back to corn chips…there’s something very Frito-y about the beer that I liked. My wife rolled her eyes and told me I was a snob, while her biggest observation was the amount of saliva it brought our of her mouth after the swallow.  The dry/sour balance is spot on.

Definitely a full-mouth beer without being heavy at all, and one I’ll go back to again.

Brouwerij Timmermans, Belgium.  5.5% ABV

eric