Beach Tasting: Girardin Gueuze (375 mL)

Aroma:

Fresh acidic and sour notes with minor hints of oak and spice

Appearance:

Cork pops quickly with plenty of force and sound. Produces supple amounts of big bubble head that fades rather quickly. Golden orange with a moderate amount of CO2 coming out of solution. very clear, with only minimal chill haze. Seems almost as clear as a filtered lager.

Flavor:

Feels very nice on the tongue at once and then hits you with a smooth sour/acidic taste that still has some feeling of sweetness. I’m not sure how to describe the sour its very interesting. Probably if I had a better understanding of the differences between acetic, lactic and malic acid I could articulate it.

It has an initial flavor that is more sour than acidic and the continues with a feeling of sweetness. I imagine this is only perceived sweetness from the mellowing of the beer in oak and in the bottle.

Mouthfeel:

Very light mouth feel as expected from a Gueuze. It does feel appropriate for the style.

Overall Impression:

I was immediately impressed by this beer. It has a very smooth balance to the sour and acidic that gives complexity but is not as hard on the stomach as the Cantillion, which is far more acidic. I would be interested in whether these are aged in oak or stainless steel before bottle conditioning. I do get some oak notes but the smoothness it very deceiving. Its a good balance of complexity and smoothness. Very tasty. I give it an A- versus an A only because I would like a little more oak character.