This Is My Blood: Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne

This is another beer style from the list I made a couple months ago. Find the list HERE. Find today's beer below.

Gueuze
(#66)
Exemplified by Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne

Here's what I can say about gueuzes without mentioning any other beer style: 1) they are quite sour; 2) they are quite carbonated, akin to champagne (this one complete with cork top that needed to be popped over the sink just in case... the word "gueuze" does mean "geyser," after all)

I need to mention two other styles, though, to complete this blog post, even though we haven't done our deep dive into either one yet. Well, okay, we kinda talked about lambics already, even though that was before we officially started going through each style. Gueuzes are a type of lambic. It's what happens when you mix old lambics and new lambics during the fermentation process—the old lambics feast on the new lambics' fresh sugars. Lambics are made through spontaneous fermentation from wild yeast in barrels, which is what gives it the sour taste.

We should also probably mention gose, which is the style that is popular in niche drinking circles in America currently. I mention it not because gose and gueuze are similar styles, but just because they sound alike, and if you're like me, that probably confused you at first.

Goses (briefly, since I will write about goses properly at a later date) are German ales that feature coriander and, most importantly, salt. The brewing process is normal. Salt doesn't have anything to do with gueuzes, and the fermentation is anything but normal with this style. They are completely different.

Plus, the pronunciations are different. Gose is pronounced "GOES-uh," whereas gueuze is pronounced "gooze."

Anyways, this beer was really interesting, and I enjoyed drinking it theory, but man... sours are just not my thing.

NOTES

BEER: Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne

STYLE: Belgian Gueuze

ABV: 6.4%

BREWED BY: Gueuzerie Tilquin

LOCATION: Rebecq-Rognon, Belgium

PURCHASED AT: Iron Abbey when I drunkenly was dropped off there by Pam on Father's Day

PAIRED WITH: Tasting Beer claims it's tough to pair with gueuzes, which is legit, but it says that if you were gonna try, go for seafood. It worked out well that we are shrimp burgers at my parents house tonight.

GRADE: 2 pukes out of 5

BEER COUNT: 242