Hi,
Here's the second episode of the memorable vintage tasting which was held at beer pub Pado in Tielt.
The second vintage is an early 70's Gueuze Belle-Vue, brewed by brewery Belle-Vue that time.
A 37.5 cl. bottle from the good old times....
Brewery Belle-Vue is a Lambic brewery raised by Philémon Vanden Stock, who started with Lambic blending in 1913.
In 1940 he bought his first brewery, to become brewmaster himself.
It is in 1927 that Philémon Vanden Stock bought café-brasserie "Belle-Vue". A bar dating from 1890 (Paul Jansonlaan at Anderlecht). This bar still exists today.
The name of that café became the family's brand name, and starting from 1949 also became the name of the company.
Sadly, at the end of World War II, the founder of Belle-Vue was transported by the Germans to a concentration camp, from which he ddin't return. Starting from that period, the company was lead by his son Constant Vanden Stock, also well known as the chairman of soccer club RSC Anderlecht. It is under his leadership that the production of sweet Lambic beers was started.
Finally Belle-Vue was taken over in 1991 by InterBrew (later to become ABInBev).
We notice the golden metallic bottleneck wrap, which was frequently seen those days.
The old yellow label betrays the age of the beer. This is definitely an early 70's vintage brewed at Brewery Belle-Vue.
The bottle is closed with a cork, and this means that the sealing isn't that perfect.
Observing the contents, we see that already alot of Gueuze has been evaporated.
No panic, this is quite normal, and frequently seen with very old aged "corked" Gueuze.
This absolutely does not mean that the beer inside has gone bad !
I think it's time we have some tasting....
Let's uncork that beauty.
Removing the golden wrap, the cork shows up.
A bit of wrap oxidation is seen, and the cork still looks in good shape.
Bartender Dominiek has the right skills to uncork. Yes, that bottle is in good hands.
Be aware that the uncorking job wasn't an easy task at all. In fact, the cork broke in two pieces, but Dominiek didn't panic, and could remove all the cork pieces, and this whitout any fragments falling into the precious liquid.
Pouring was done in a professional, appetizing, knowledgeable way.
Again, some pulling was done to produce a head.
Folks, the aromas that escaped that bottle were phenomenal ! Such a fruity, perfumy complexity.
Poured out, we see that a nice head was the result. Quite some big bubbles too. Similar to the vintage Liefmans Oud Bruin from previous message. See: belgianbeerboard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=545
After a short while, the head disappeared into big bubbles hanging on the glass.
Nosing gave the best that the Payottenland has to offer.
Amazing wood flavours, and this combined with vinegar-lactic touches.
This is top-quality Oude Gueuze you would expect.
That nose is after all quite some delight. Especially the perfumy ester fomations during all those years of ageing were quite impressive.
Unfortunately, our nose capacity is impossible to detect sweetness.
Tasting this beer didn't confirm the nose. A sweetish flavour immediatley touched my taste buds.
Sweet .. sweet...... but surprisingly not that artificial. Where's the saccharine ??
The overall result is an about 5.5 vol% sweet-sour concoction with that typical Belle-Vue stamp so hard to describe.
There's something bitter too, and full of tannins.
This whole combination, sweetness, sourness, tartness, fruitiness, bitterness, ageing compexity (including the formation of aromatic esters), and wood flavours makes this vintage tasting quite an extraordinary experience.
Be aware that sweetness is one of the main perceptions here.
If you don't like sweet in Gueuze, avoid at any costs ! Well, I certainly wouldn't.....
Cheers,
Filip
Wish I was there. 