With all visits to breweries, interviews, and regular life and work still going on, a significant backlog of small posts about beers I drank had been building up. Therefore I decided to include all beers in one post. Below are some taste notes from the beers I drank in April, May, June, and July that were not already featured in one of the other recently published posts. If you follow me on Instagram you may have already seen these coming by. If you don’t, click on the Instagram logo in the footer of this page to follow me.
Berliner Ryesse – Alvinne
Little to no retention of the foam, no head. Amazing golden color with a hint of red. Distinct sour smell with a little funk reminiscent of a gueuze. Sweet sour flavour, almost like apple juice. Almost no carbonation at all. No hops, no bitterness. Not a real funk to the flavor, but a pleasant beer for a hot day. Oak aged which you can notice just a tiny bit but not in the aftertaste. Marsala barrel aged, but I do not have the idea that this changed the flavor. Ate it at home with Thai noodles with a lot of sriracha and this combined well.
Pollen – Charlotte
Again I was seduced by a pretty-looking label in the fridge at Le Barboteur in Schaerbeek. Expecting a wild fermented beer I was quite surprised when I poured it into my glass. The color was very pale. The smell is extremely interesting, but indescribable. The taste explained the smell, flowery and very plant-like, but also missing some body. Upon closer inspection of the label, I wasn’t drinking a beer but a wild fermented hard seltzer!
Grapevine – Brouwerij de Ranke
Another beer perfect for a hot summer’s day. Enjoyed in the Bois de la Cambre, Brussels’ best park on the south side of the city. Grapevine is a grape lambic that’s made with another variety of grapes each year. This 2022 edition uses white Trebbiano d’Abruzzo grapes from Italy. It smelled like a gueuze with fruity tones. Very refreshing taste with a slight bitterness. The grape doesn’t really come through in the flavor.
Passie/Sauvignon – Symbiose
Bought in Groningen when meeting Klaas Jan (co-founder) of Symbiose and enjoyed in preparation for Carnivale Brettanomyces. Ever since I started drinking lambic beers I’ve dreamed of a version with passion fruit, and finally trying one lived up to the expectation. This beer is delicious! Made with one and three-year-old lambic from Vandenbroek, natural wine from Sauvignon Gris grapes from The Netherlands, and a small amount of Solaris wine, this lambic-wine hybrid is to die for!
Watergeus retsina and rosemary – Vandenbroek
Bought when visiting the Vandenbroek brewery this spring I couldn’t wait to try it. In preparation for Carnivale Brettanomyces, it was finally time to pour this beer. My expectations were high and this beer lived up to it. Extremely well-balanced gueuze with added complexity from the retsina and rosemary. At first, you don’t really taste the rosemary, but in the aftertaste, it surely comes through with some earthy aromas.
Cuvée Rene – Lindemans
Drank on a Friday afternoon in the most picturesque park of Brussels, Parc Cinquentenaire, also the best spike ball venue in town. Very good and affordable gueuze with some funk on the nose. A pleasant apple flavor resulting in a fruity and fizzy approachable gueuze.
Saison Sauvage Orange Sanguine – Brasserie la Jungle
Same night at Le Barboteur I tried La Jungle’s mixed fermentation Saison with blood orange. Having tried the version with red plums before (Saison Sauvage Prune Rouge), I knew what to expect. A refreshing fruity, slightly sour beer. Perfect for a hot summer night on a terrace.
Goudenband – Liefmans
This is one of the beers that led to my love of sour and wild beers, so when I had a friend over who had never tried this, of course, I had to introduce him to this divine liquid. Furthermore, it was the recommended pairing with the blue cheese and pear ‘pizza’ at Otomat at the Saint Catherine square in Brussels. Deliciously acidic beer with aromas of raisins and ripe fruit.
Gueuze (draught) – Tilquin
The only draught gueuze that I know of, I drank this one at Moeder Lambic in Saint-Gilles. Moeder Lambic is the bar for lambic and gueuze lovers with an impressive bottle menu including beers from Bofkont and Vermeersch. This gueuze was everything that you may expect from it. Tart, refreshing, and begging for a second one after finishing it.