The spoils

I did a modest amount of gueze shopping when I was in Brussels over the summer. No beers-by-the-case but a few suitcase-fillers and bubblewrap-users. New ticks were the main priority and I have two such today.

It's almost two years since I wrote unenthusiastically about the first release from Lambiek Fabriek, opining that the beer lacks the poise of more established breweries' wares. That should be enough time to develop some poise, so I chanced a bottle of the kriek, Jart-Elle, when I saw it. It's 6% ABV which should lend it plenty of heft, but my first impression was of wateriness. That should never be a feature of beers like this. There's a lovely funky aroma and a pleasant gunpowder spicing in the foretaste, but like the real thing it flashes and it's gone, as if there's not enough substance to hold it in place. I don't get much of a contribution from the cherries either. Yes it's an oude kriek, but it's only been bottled since April 2020: that shouldn't be so long that they've faded out almost completely. Once again I'm left with the impression that Lambiek Fabriek is not at the top table yet. This definitely has all the right components, with no sign of shortcuts or obvious flaws, but it just doesn't gel together the way the really good ones do. The complexity is there, but it doesn't spend long enough on the palate to provide a proper tasting experience. Higher gravity and more fruit, is what this one needs, in my entirely unschooled opinion.

The Toer de Geuze was scheduled to happen in 2021 but didn't, for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, the lambic breweries who are members of the trade association HORAL still dutifully put together a blend of their collective wares and sent it out for sale. As usual, it's 7% ABV. Maybe it's the disadvantage of drinking these relatively fresh, but it was a bugger to pour, foaming busily despite being decently cold when I opened it. When I finally got to the beer, however, I was very impressed. This has a great deal in common with the previous iteration in 2019, emphasising the peppery spice, calling to mind pink peppercorns and white pepper in particular, for me. The texture is full and surprisingly smooth, given the fizz, adding a creamy side which starts to give the beer a luxury steak-sauce vibe. I'm fully on board with that. And then there's a cleansing white-vinegar tartness, a little waxy bitterness and a dusting of gunpowder: all the standard good things that make geuze worthwhile.

I don't for a moment assume that when the high-end lambic producers combine their wares into Gueze Voltron it automatically means that the results will be greater than the sum of its parts... but it's hard to think of this lad as anything else. Local folks please note that this is still available in Ireland's purveyors of lambic. I have already replaced the single bottle I suitcased over.