Gueuze

ABV 5.0-8.0% · IBU 0-10 · SRM 5-6 · Serve 45-50F · Glass Tulip or flute · Extras cork and cage

Identify

Gold and usually bright, with a thick, rocky, white head that sits there and refuses to fall. Fine bubbles run up the glass without stopping. It looks far more like sparkling wine than like beer, and the cork and cage on the bottle say the same thing. Sharply sour and completely dry, with a fizz that scrubs your tongue clean. Behind the acid there is citrus peel, rhubarb, hay, leather and damp cellar. There is no sweetness anywhere and almost no bitterness. It finishes short, dry and clean.

Place

The Zenne valley and the Pajottenland, south west of Brussels. Some of the best examples come from blenders who buy Lambic rather than brew it, which is a trade with no real equivalent elsewhere in beer.

Cause

A Gueuze carbonates itself, and the method is elegant. Young Lambic and old Lambic bring different things to the bottle, and sealing them in together is what makes the beer sparkle. Young Lambic, about one year old, still contains sugars that have not been fermented and yeast that is still active.

Confused with

Straight Lambic, which is the same beer unblended and flat. Fruit Lambic, which is the same base with fruit added. Berliner Weisse, which is sour and pale but weak and has no funk. Champagne, honestly, which is the comparison most people reach for first.

Numbers

This is the beer in the course most likely to catch somebody off guard, so it is worth saying plainly. A Gueuze is closer to a dry cider or a sparkling wine than to what most people picture when they hear the word beer. There is no sweetness. There is no malty warmth. There is no hop character.

Will you like it, Order and Try

Dry sparkling wine, especially brut Champagne or a hard, dry cremant. The acidity and the fine bubbles are genuinely comparable. Bone dry cider, the kind that tastes of apple skin rather than apple juice. Sherry, or white wine that has picked up a nutty, oxidised edge.

Pair, Judge, Myth and Remember

Sweet food, chocolate, and anything with a heavy roasted flavour. With no sugar in the glass, a dessert makes the beer taste bitterly acidic. Acid and roast fight each other, and a delicate dish simply gets shouted over.