Acid party

My second post on the 2019 Toer de Geuze begins at Lindemans. This brewery, more than any other, brings a carnival atmosphere, with a wheel of fortune, two bouncy castles and beer sampling conducted 50 metres in the air atop a crane. Vertical tasting, wha'? It also has the best shop on the route, where I bought my takeaway bottle of Megablend 2019.

Not without tasting it first, though. I had been disappointed by the 2017 version on the previous Toer, but this year's outing was much better. There's a huge aroma of pepper and gunpowder making it immediately attractive. This comes through in the flavour though in a slightly muted way and there's no deeper complexity, at least not yet. It's still highly enjoyable, however. The spicy side of lambic is my favourite feature and they've done a great job of accentuating it here.

On the right, looking every bit of its name, is Platte ("flat") Lambiek. I'm quite fond of the straight unaged lambic occasionally found on cask around Brussels. This is a good example, being quite sweet and almost juicy, with notes of mandarin and tangerine. It's simple, with no spice or wood, not even very much sourness, but delightfully refreshing and moreish.

I almost bought a bottle of Lindemans GingerGeuze, and I'm glad I tried that one first. There's a strong smell of fresh ginger from this 6% ABV hazy orange blend, and a dose of disinfectant as well. The flavour is exceedingly unsubtle, making it a ginger alcopop by completely losing all sight of the base lambic. The ginger is enjoyable on its own terms, making for something that's OK as a beer but a complete disaster as a geuze.

The clear yellow beer beside it is Goyck, a collaborative blend Lindemans makes with Brouwerij Varenbroek near Antwerp, consisting of lambic (of course) mixed with a blonde ale. It has the stonefruit aroma of many Brettanomyces beers; that slightly gummy apricot effect. This is coupled with urinal-cake herbs and lots of sweet elderflower, the latter continuing through to the flavour. The fruity funk is still there too, giving it a cantaloupe taste. I'm not sure it's an improvement on straight geuze but if the intention was to take the sour edge off while still retaining the basic character then I think it worked.

From one party brewery to another: Boon. The set-up here was largely the same as before with a big Oktoberfest-style tent and two bars, one with the "connoisseur" selection. The monoblends featured heavily and I picked numbers at random.

Vat 91

Vat 92

The first pair are Vat 91 and Vat 92. Both are a powerful 8% ABV. The first doesn't really justify that strength, being quite light and soft. There's a minor smack of saltpetre on the finish, matching a bricky nitre aroma, but no real punch and not a whole lot of sour. The other one offered a great deal more, the mellow spiciness balanced by an assertive bitter kick and a spritzy acidity. Fresh and crunchy green cabbage sits next to a plaster-of-paris alkalinity. Yet none of this, nor the strength, turns it into a monster: the complexities are all very well balanced beside each other.

From geuze to lambic, and next was Lambiek Foeder 82, a rather plain offering with an orange rind flavour bringing tartness without turning full-on sour. Again the ABV, at 6.5%, is rather high for the modest taste.

L: Foeder 14, R: Foeder 82

While that was clear, Lambiek Foeder 14, next to it, is a cloudy shade of orange, so I'm guessing is a younger creation. And once more the second beer is the one with all the complexity. There's a mouth-watering citric zing and lots of lovely peppery spice. Although the strength matches that of 82, it's a touch on the watery side. This does make it very easy-drinking refreshment, and the mere €2 price tag helps as well.

One of the most interesting phenomena of the trip was observing the emergence of Schaarbeekse Kriek. The cherry used in these seems to be a heritage variety, the forerunner of modern cultivars. Boon's example is a very deep red shade and smells quite sickly, like jam. While nowhere near as sugary as regular Kriek Boon it's still quite candyish, showing lots of cherry sherbet and donut filling. The cherry flavour is nicely intense, though, so the potential for ageing into something excellent is very high.

Stop three on the Sunday was De Cam, the simplest set-up of all the venues yet somehow they still managed to make a mess of it. You buy your bottle from the makeshift bar and either take it away or pick up a glass to drink it from. And this is where the system broke down, with the glasswashers on a go-slow. Not in the mood for swigging room-temperature geuze, I waited with my De Cam Oude Geuze.

And because it was room temperature it exploded everywhere once I pulled the cork out, and took ages to pour. I was already in a bad mood before I took my first sip. Despite being three years old, it tasted unfinished: sweet and worty with lots of sickly popcorn butter and sticky candyfloss. There's a brisk spritz but nothing I'd call properly sour. Between this and my recent experience with their bilberry geuze, I think I've fallen out of love with De Cam.

That brings us to our final stop, Hanssens blendery in downtown Dworp. The sun was out and so were the crowds: the tiny courtyard and cramped bar uncomfortably packed with long queues for everything. I still managed to get through a fair few beers so maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

L: Framboos, R: Cassis

I began with Hanssens Framboos, a sickly shade of orange-pink and quite flat looking. There's a pleasant raspberry sweetness -- real and not syrupy -- but its positive influence is undermined by a harsh vinegar burn which makes it difficult to enjoy. There's no subtlety or nuance here: you take what you're given from the first mouthful.

The purple beer there is Hanssens Cassis, a much better offering. There's loads of farmyard funk in this, plus just the right amount of burning sourness. The fruit needs all of this to settle down before emerging, contributing solely to the finish. It's a wonderful contribution, though: juicy blackcurrant bringing balance and complexity. Amazing how two beers with probably quite similar base recipes can taste so different.

This next canary-yellow chap is called Oudbeitje ("oldie"). It certainly didn't taste mellow, having a marmalade character which ramps up in sweetness to become artifical orange-flavoured candy. The vinegar tang is back as well. I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be (strawberry geuze, apparently), though I do know I didn't enjoy it.

The Schaarbeekse exploration continued at Hanssens, and I was able to taste theirs next to the regular version.

Hanssens Schaerbeekse [sic] Kriek is a dense purple colour, almost blue, in fact. The cherry flavour is huge: all real cherry juice and ripe flesh. This is matched with an invigorating tartness which complements the fruit without overpowering the total picture. What we have here is kriek done big and loud; the kriekiest of krieks I've tasted. 6% ABV helps boost that, as well as giving it a lovely Bakewell-tart cakey warmth.

So Hanssens Oude Kriek was bound to be a let-down after that, though it was far from a disaster. It's thinner looking but still nicely purple. The flavour tilts more towards sour and it offers much less fruit richness though it's still well-balanced. There's an enjoyable balsamic resin quality as well. A very decent effort but I would still recommend trading up to the Schaerbeekse.

I took a variety of bottles home with me, including the special edition beer Hanssens made for the occasion, and I'll get round to drinking them in the not too distant future, I hope. It wasn't all sour fun that weekend, however, and I'll cover the rest of my beering in Friday's post.