[BEER REVIEW] A Beer Aged in a Century-old Cognac Barrel 🍺

Geuze or Gueuze (both spellings are correct) is a mixture of old and young Lambic, where the young Lambic is added to start a new fermentation process. Lambic in turn is a spontaneously fermented beer from Pajottenland southwest of Brussels, with naturally-occurring, local, airborne yeast. The beer is brewed with up to 30-40% unmelted wheat. The brewers use oxidized hops because they want to avoid the bitterness or any hop aroma; they're only interested in the antiseptic qualities of the hops. No yeast is artificially added; instead they allow the microorganisms in the air at the brewery attack the wort. Then the beer is put on large oak barrels where it becomes infected by various lactic acid bacteria and is fermented for several years. This gives the beer a both dry and sour taste.

                

In Geuze the mixture often consists of Lambic that is 1-3 years old, but it's not unusual with even older Lambic. The beer is also aged in the bottle, usually up to a year at the brewery before it's released for sale. Geuze is bottled on champagne like bottles, often with cork and muselet because of the high pressure that can occur when wild yeast reacts with the sugar.

Earlier this month the legendary master of sour beer, Frank Boon and his Boon Brewery released a Geuze which has been matured on a Cognac barrel that is over 100 years old. This traditional Oude Geuze VAT 109 is a "monoblend," composed out of 90% Lambic from cask No. 109 and 10% of young Lambic. Cask No. 109 is an oak cask manufactured in 1910 by the German company Drexler, and it holds 9,000 liters. It was one of four that were intended to be used as a beer kegs, but since 1935 it has been used to store cognac. The older Lambic was stored on this cask for two years. After the beer was bottled it was matured for another 6 months.

At the historic brewery in the small village of Lembeek, where Brouwerij Boon is situated, they have brewed beer since 1685. At one time Lembeek housed 43 breweries, but today Boon is the only one that remains.

Boon Oude Geuze VAT 109

Origin: Lembeek, Belgium
Brewery: Brouwerij Boon
Style: Oude Geuze
ABV: 8.25%
Price: ~11 USD
375 ml

Appearance: Apricot and slightly hazy.

Nose: Oak and vanilla notes together with dried fruits and peach. There's also something akin to peat smoke in it, although very faint.

Palate: Gooseberries, unripe peaches, grape peel and apples in a rather earthy foundational character. You can really feel the Cognac shining through; that musty and moldy quality. Although this Geuze has a fermentation rate of 93% I don't experience it as extremely dry, but rather very rich and perfectly balanced. There's also a beautiful oak bitterness and plenty of pepper together with sweet vanilla that helps balance the acidity. If you allow it to settle in the glass for about 20 minutes the unripe fruit will ripen and become sweeter, and even some floral notes will come forth.

Finish: Plenty of dry tannins and oak bitterness.

Conclusion: Not only does the realization that I'm drinking a beer aged on a 107 year old cask send shivers down my spine, but also the fact that it's so darn tasty! Probably one of the more well-balanced and complex Geuze's I've had. The sourness isn't kicking me in the face, but is rather quite restrained and balanced by fruitiness and oakiness. Heavenly stuff and deserving a score of 95 points out of 100.

 @SteemSwede