I paired this beer with: Steamed tilapia with a spicy lemon marinade. Great Pairing!!!
Note: This was bottled on October 3, 2008.
The beer poured a hazy light orange with a small fluffy white head and many tiny bubbles like you would see in a glass of champagne. The nose was funky and barnyard like, with hints of lemon zest. The taste hits you first with some funk and mildly tart on the acidic side, and then I picked up some lemon and green apples, and end up very dry. The mouthfeel was of a light to medium body and a very nice level of carbonation to tickle the tongue. The drinkability was fabulous and like the label says is a Classic Gueuze which I can drink all day.
A blend of one, two, and three year-old lambics, refermented in the bottle. Store and serve at cellar temperature (50-55 F/10-13 C). Do not serve cold! Pour gently (leaving behind the yeast sediment) into a wine glass or traditional Belgian tumbler.
In the 18th century, a Benedictine monk, dom Pérignon, discovers the champaign method by blending different non sparkling white wines. One century later, a Brabant brewer blends different lambics and brings about a spontaneous fermentation in the bottle. The Gueuze is born.
Up to the 19th century, the people from Brussels and Brabant mostly drank two beers, Lambic and Faro. The glass bottle and the discovery of Dom Perignon will bring about a revolution in the small world of the Brussels brewers. The Gueuze became the icon of the Brussels beers.
Lambic, which is the base for the making of Gueuze, is a spontaneous fermentation beer. All beers made with Lambic are naturally sour, but some will be more sour, more bitter or “softer” than the others.
The Gueuze is the result of a well-considered blending of Lambics of different ages and with different tastes.
The Lambic beers from the Cantillon brewery, which are conserved in oakwood barrels, are called “young” after one year, but they will reach their full maturity after three years. The young beers contain the sugars which are necessary for the second fermentation in the bottle. The three years old beers will contribute their taste and their flavour.
The main task for the brewer, however, is tasting. He will taste about ten Lambics from different barrels in order to select five or six which will be used for the Gueuze 100% Lambic presenting the typical characteristics of the beers from the Cantillon brewery.
The bottles are closed with a cork, capped with a crown-cork. They will remain horizontally in a cellar for a year on average, in order to allow the sugars to be converted into carbon dioxide (second fermentation in the bottle). The saturation of the beer is slow and natural. When the Lambic becomes sparkling, it is called Gueuze. At that moment, this crown-jewel of the Cantillon brewery will leave the cellar of the brewery and find its way to the cellars of the lovers of the traditional Gueuze.
Every blending will produce a different Gueuze. Since we work according to a natural process, it is impossible to make a standard beer.
This beer is not only unique because of its brewing process, but also because it can be conserved for a long time. When kept in a good cellar, a Cantillon Gueuze will still have an exceptional taste and flavour after 20 years.
The Gueuze 100% Lambic Cantillon represents half of the production of the brewery.
The Gueuze 100% Lambic is available in 37,5 cl (1/2) or 75 cl (1/1) bottles.
This is the 4th installment of our Beery Adventures in Belgium. We visited Bruges, Gent, Mechelen, Antwerp & Brussels over 7 days, meeting with vendors for our beer travel company, BonBeerVoyage.com. During our whirlwind week, we were able to visit over 50 beer related places and tasted over 50 different beers.
With Bruges behind us, we are now going to focus on Gent. During our 2 nights and 1 day in Gent we visited 9 bars, discovered a new brewery and tasted 13 different beers.
Our 1st visit was to De Dulle Griet (50 Vrijdagmarkt). De Dulle Griet is a cool, quirky bar which you will find on the square called Friday Market (Vrijdagmarkt in Dutch). The bar is named after a very famous medieval supergun from Gent. You can see this large red canon on display just outside the Friday Market on the canal front. Dulle Griet has over 250 beers to choose from, including their famous “The Max” which is Kwak from Brouwerij Bosteels poured into a Kwak Yard Glass.
As you may know, these glasses are not cheap, so in order to deter sticky fingered visitors from making them into souvenirs, patrons ordering “The Max” must take off one of their shoes as collateral. The shoes is then put into a basket and hoisted to the ceiling by a pulley system. When the glass is returned, so is the shoe! This bar can get crowded, so as a courtesy to your fellow imbibers, if you plan to have a Kwak, wear your odor eaters, please!
After searching the packed pub both upstairs and down and not finding a seat in the house, Ruth & I were fortunate enough to be invited by another couple, on a holiday from Holland, to share the next available table. I started my night off with a Malheur 12, which is a Quadruple and 12% abv from Brouwerij De Landtsheer NV . Ruth started with a Rochefort 10, also a Quadruple at 11.3% abv from Brasserie de Rochefort (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy). After we finished our Quadruples, we said goodbye to our new Dutch friends and left to check out one more pub before heading off to dinner.
As we walked to Café Den Trollekelder (17 Bij Sint-Jacobs) we heard what sounded like a jazz band practicing nearby. So as I went to check out Den Trollekelder, Ruth went to track down where the great music was coming from.
The 1st thing I saw upon approaching Den Trollekelder were all the trolls in the window. The 2nd thing I noticed was the beer list hanging in the window, at a quick glance it appeared they had about 150 beers. Great list, now to find a seat. As I entered I noticed how empty the place looked. I walked through the 2 levels and the only person I saw was the bartender. I thought this was strange, given the fact of how crowded Dulle Griet had been and how good the beer menu looked. I headed back out the door to find Ruth who hadn’t appeared in this troll den yet.
I saw her standing next door in front of Trefpunt (18 Bij Sint-Jacobs) talking to an elder man with a small plaid shopping cart. The stranger my wife was chatting it up with was Coen, a local artist and poet. He apparently carries all his poetry in that shopping cart. He confirmed that the jazz band we heard would be playing shortly in Trefpunt, which is a music and theater café. We went in & found a couple of seats at the bar near the stage. They have a small beer list of 6 beers on tap and 18 bottled. We both managed to find a something to our liking.
Ruth stayed with Rochefort and this time ordered a Rochefort 8, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, 9.2% abv from Brasserie de Rochefort. I matched her Trappist with an Orval, a Belgian Pale Ale. It is 6.90% abv and brewed by Brasserie d’Orval S.A.
Coen and Ruth got into a conversation about everything from the French Poetry to Bob Dylan. This was followed by her attempt at interpreting his Flemish reading of one of his poems, (the Rocheforts obviously somehow endowed her with translating superpowers). By the time the band started to play we were starving so after the first set we headed out in search of dinner.
We went to the beer enthusiasts’ restaurant Aba-Jour (20 Oudburg) which serves Italian & Belgian fair. Aba-Jour had 6 beers on tap, 55 bottled plus 10 specials on their menu board including Vin de Céréale and Stille Nacht 2003.
While we waited to be seated for dinner, we sat at the bar and Ruth went for a Rochefort trifecta and ordered the Rochefort 6, which is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 7.5% Abv from Brasserie de Rochefort. I went with Drie Founteine Oude Geuze, a 6.0% abv which is a Gueuze from Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen.
With my spaghetti dinner I stayed in the Gueuze family and ordered Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio, a 5.0% Gueuze from Brasserie Cantillon.
Above is a Haiku, written that evening for us by Coen (Coenraed de Waele ) with one of the 7 or so pens he had in his jacket pocket for such occasions. (For those of you not familiar with Haiku, it is a Japanese form of poetry written in 3 lines, the 1st line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables and the 3rd line has 5 syllables.) This is what it says.
The next morning and early afternoon we spent touring around Gent. During our rounds we came across 2 beer bars, which were unfortunately closed at that time of the day.
The 1st one was Het Verdronken Land (57 Steendam) which is a tapasbar. They have about 50 beers on their list and is only a short walk N.E. from Den Trollekelder.
The 2nd beer bar which was closed was Delirium Café , (2 Klein Turkije). The Delirium’s entrance would lead you to their basement bar. This is the sister bar of the famous Delirium Café in Brussels, but is has nowhere near the 2000 beers you will find in Brussels. It does, however, have an impressive 150 beers on its menu.
Gruut Gentse Stadsbrouwerij (10 Grote Huidevettershoek) is a Hop-less brewery. The head brewer a female. They currently make 4 beers, a Wit Beer 5%abv; a Blond 5.5% abv; an Amber Ale 6.6% abv and a Bruin 8% which at the time was in production but not bottled yet.
Gruut is the name of a medieval mixture of spices and herbs used to make beer instead of using hops. Gruut was also the name of the local currency in the middle ages which was used to pay the taxes on the amount of Gruut used.
Here at Gruut they use modern equipment and brewing techniques in the old-fashioned tradition.
With a snack of hard cheese and salami, Ruth enjoyed the Belgium Wit Beer and while I had their Belgium Blond.
The walk back into town from Gruut made us thirsty so we stopped off at ‘t Gouden Mandeke (9 Pensmarkt) for a beer. This was a quaint bar with baskets hanging along the beams of the ceiling. They were very crowded and there was no place to sit, not even at the bar. A quick peek at the beer menu revealed that they had about 50 beers, a good selection, but nothing we couldn’t find elsewhere in town. With a thought of a later return visit, we headed off to find a place where we could sit and enjoy a beer.
We walked to the end of the block to ‘t Galgenhuisje (5 Groentenmarkt). This is the smallest bar in Gent. The location was where they used to hang people, hence its name “the Gallows House”. They had 4 beers on tap and 14 bottled beers. They made up for the small beer list with a great atmosphere. Amazingly enough, a couple was leaving as we arrived so we were able to grab one of the few tables that fit into this doll house sized pub.
I had the Gentse Tripel, which is an 8.0% abv Tripel from the Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V. Ruth drank a Westmalle triple, which is a 9.50% abv Tripel from Brouwerij Westmalle (Adbij der Trappisten van Westmalle). We meet a great couple sitting at the table next to us. After a while of chatting across our tables, we invited them to join us at our table, which made for an easier conversation. And opened up a table for another group!
Het Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant (9 Groentenmarkt). Waterhuis is wonderful bar, if the weather is nice you can grab some grub and a beer outside while enjoying the canal view and people watching. Inside it is a two story bar with a casual atmosphere. They have an excellent beer menu; that night they had 16 beers on tap and over 150 bottled.
I drank a Oud Beersel Oude Gueze Vieille , a 6% abv Gueuze which is brewed by Brouwerij Oud Beersel, Ruth had the N’ice Chouffe, which is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 10% abv. This is a Christmas beer made from by the Brasserie d’Achouffe which was van ‘t vat (from the tap).
Our new friends and drinking companions treated us to a round. We look forward to sharing a few with them when we return to Gent during our Belgium Beer Barge Tour in October!
It was then off to dinner after consulting with the locals. We ate at a restaurant called Coeur d’Artichaut (6 Onderbergen). It had a kind of modern sparse décor, high ceilings, black and white. Great atmosphere, great food, great end to a great day! All while having the proper glassware for my Duvel too!
Bon Beer Voyage Brewnique Vacations for Belgium & Craft Beer Enthusiasts!
365 Days…365 Beers One new beer, everyday, for one year.