Mead The Gueuze - Hanssens Artisanaal bvba

mattmaples

Oregon

4.2/5  rDev +8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Is it beer or is it mead? It is a candy or a breath mint? Who knows and who cares. It is one of the most unique ideas to come in a bottle for some tiime. Being a big fan of both Hannsons and Lurgashall I had really high expectations and the prodcut delivered. It has it all, the musty, tangy flavor of a Gueze and the honey character and biger body of a sweet mead.

I would say if you are more of a mead drinker and not of Gueuze you may want to sit this one out as the Guezue flavors take some getting used to but it is a quality product and fun idea to boot.

Serving type: bottle

07-06-2002 13:59:37 | More by mattmaples

t0rin0

California

4/5  rDev +2.8%

10-10-2012 03:18:32 | More by t0rin0

woosterbill

Connecticut

4.33/5  rDev +11.3%
look: 2 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

375ml bottle into a Duvel tulip. Huge thanks to whoever brought this to Knifestyle's birthday tasting - always thrilled to try a new bit of Hanssens craziness.

A: Cloudy dark amber body, no head. Ugly.

S: Sharp, sour, oaky, tannic, spicy, lemony acidity. Really intense, really sour, really great.

T: Terrific, sweet + sour Lambic. Apple, apricot, grapefruit, spicy, hay, minerality. Dry, grapefruity tartness. Nice.

M: A little light, lively, frothy, enjoyable. I wasn't expecting this given the flat appearance.

O: Excellent beer. No, it wasn't as well-balanced and integrated as something like 3F, but it was delightfully brash - just like I expect from this blender.

Cheers!

Serving type: bottle

07-25-2012 22:54:37 | More by woosterbill

chrispoint

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +2.8%

07-01-2012 16:31:39 | More by chrispoint

jerz

California

4/5  rDev +2.8%

05-21-2012 03:43:24 | More by jerz

djrn2

New Jersey

3.5/5  rDev -10%

05-03-2012 18:10:43 | More by djrn2

xnicknj

Pennsylvania

3.65/5  rDev -6.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

330mL bottle poured into tulip - thanks to aviencko for opening this

Pours a fairly tepid clear golden color. The (partially rusted?) cork barely popped - very little carbonation here.

Funky and musty in the nose with some softly biting sourness. Hints of sweetness with honey as well, from the mead.

A pleasant sour character up front with straw and funk. Somewhat musty and oaky followed by some apple and citrus. The fruit leads into the slightly sweet honey character from the mead, which is a pretty interesting combo. Soft warmth towards the finish with lingering dryness and sour flavor.

Lighter medium body, almost completely flat, sticky and lingering on the tongue. This is an interesting combo of two styles, although I wasnt into the flat texture.

Serving type: bottle

03-10-2012 20:26:40 | More by xnicknj

tobelerone

New Jersey

4.03/5  rDev +3.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

An odd beer and an oddball find, sitting on a low shelf at Cable Beverages in Bardonia NY. Cork pops loud and hard, good sign!

No gushing thankfully. Beer pours clear and golden, almost honey-colored. Fluffy white head with excellent retention, nice lacing up and down the sides of the glass.

Funky and sweet aroma, a bit musty, some honey, obviously, green apple, white grapes, lemon, barnyard, hay.

A lot of the aroma is in the flavor too, perhaps a bit more muted than I anticipated. Has a bit of tart puckering but more funky barn taste, definite honey but not over-the-top or overly sweet, well balancing but sourness from lemon and green apple notes.

Crisp carbonation, light body, clean finish. This was a fun one to try if not an upper echelon gueuze in the end. Nice twist on the style with the addition of mead.

Serving type: bottle

03-09-2012 16:39:05 | More by tobelerone

Wiid

New Jersey

4.5/5  rDev +15.7%

03-04-2012 04:22:33 | More by Wiid

largadeer

California

4/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A strange old lambic shared by Masterski. Thanks, Alex.

Pale blond with nice clarity. As usual with Hanssens lambic, it had no carbonation at all.

A ton of funk on the nose, grassy and hay-like barnyard must, faint sweetness, rotten lemon. Moderately acidic, plastic, little acetone. Strange but enjoyable.

Well, this tastes exactly like Hanssens lambic with mead in it. It's not terribly sweet, but there's a distinct honey character beneath the intense hay/rotten lemon funk. It has a moderate sourness, but it's not too sharp. Heavy tannins in the finish, floral, honey. Light acetone. Strange but good.

Serving type: bottle

01-23-2012 20:36:20 | More by largadeer

klipper

Michigan

4/5  rDev +2.8%

01-07-2012 00:35:05 | More by klipper

surlytheduff

Michigan

4/5  rDev +2.8%

12-31-2011 19:16:45 | More by surlytheduff

TurdFurgison

Ohio

2.5/5  rDev -35.7%

12-21-2011 18:36:22 | More by TurdFurgison

callmemickey

Pennsylvania

3.53/5  rDev -9.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Old bottle of Mead the Gueuze that I finally got around to opening up.

A: Slightly hazy golden-orange body. Not a single bubble -- the way only Hanssens can do!

S: Light lambic must with a bit of oak. A dose of vinegar and a lemon-honey sweetness that was the obvious influence of the mead.

T: Musty, funky oak, lemon acidity, white vinegar, cough-drop like sweetness. Generally, this tasted a little "stale" -- perhaps too much age on this.

M: Dead flat. But I didn't mind the stillness. Semi-dry finish. High, but not blistering acidity.

O: A unique brew, even for a Hanssens' creation,

Serving type: bottle

11-28-2011 01:07:33 | More by callmemickey

HopStoopid120

Connecticut

4.5/5  rDev +15.7%

11-15-2011 21:18:10 | More by HopStoopid120

JAHMUR

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +2.8%

11-14-2011 20:14:52 | More by JAHMUR

MasterSki

Illinois

4/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Bottle courtesy of Scott (Heliosphann). Strange goo around the cork - guessing it's dried mead? Comes out with minimal pop in any case. Served in a champagne flute.

A - Still - looks like mead. Initial pours are transparent, but later ones get a touch hazier. Nice attractive golden color.

S - Intensely funky, although it also has some skunk and tire fire mixed in. Big notes of tart green apples, white wine vinegar, and plenty of green barnyard funk. Not much honey/mead sweetness to be found here - just reminds me of certain Hanssens Gueuze bottles I've had.

T - The taste has more of the advertised mead sweetness, but this is still largely a gueuze in flavor profile. Plenty of tart apple skins, funk, and grassy, floral notes too. There's a bit more malted grain character than standard gueuze too.

M - Medium body, no carbonation, extremely dry, and tannic in the finish.

D - Our groups was pretty much split on this one - I thought it was quite good and largely tasted like regular Hanssens Gueuze but with a bit more sweetness (and alcohol) and less of the stomach-melting acidity. Others hated it. Would have it again, but probably wouldn't actively trade for it.

Serving type: bottle

06-28-2011 21:45:47 | More by MasterSki

AgentZero

Illinois

3/5  rDev -22.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to MasterSki for sharing this.

A - The cork didn't pop it all, it kind of just fell off, no sound or anything. Pours dead, look a golden amber color that is trasparent.

S - Smells like some confusingly skunked gueze with some chemicals and maybe a bit of rubber. Not sure how this happened, but the addition of mead makes it smell sickly sweet.

T - The taste is better, it does taste like gueze with some honey added on the end, although it took me a few sips to start to taste the honey. I don't care for it a ton.

M - Medium bodied and flat.

O - It's unique, so it gets points for that, but it's not something I'll drink a lot of or go back for.

Serving type: bottle

06-25-2011 04:10:14 | More by AgentZero

Gobzilla

California

3.9/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Good lookin out drew for popping this open and almost shooting your eye out with the cork.

A: poured a brownish orange with pale yellowq highlights and had a thin bubbly head leaving a little lacing sticking to the glass.

S: upfront I detected maple syrup and honey, with corky character, bretty funk, acidic notes but had citrus oak as well. Really nice blend of mead and gueuze.

T: the sour gueuze character came out more on the taste with honey mead notes, oaky, bretty funky accents and nice citrusy flavors on the end.

M: the brew was light to medium in body with a lots of carbonation which had a sweet, citrusy,oaky, funky, and mild sour finish.

D: really glad I had the opportunity to try this brew and was excatly how I imagined it. Tasted great and was drinking good.

Serving type: bottle

02-14-2011 00:45:36 | More by Gobzilla

womencantsail

California

4.05/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Thanks so much for fulfilling a long time want of mine, Mark! An extremely generous extra.

A: As soon as the cage was fully loosened, the cork exploded from the bottle, shooting all the way across the room and the beer began gushing out of the bottle. Once contained in a glass, the beer is a fairly clear golden-orange color with a big white head.

S: Smells amazingly funky. Very, very musty with a lot of wet hay and oak, and perhaps a bit of cork. A definite barnyard quality to it as well. The mead/honey is there and is quite floral. There is, strangely, some vanilla too. Lactic, but not as much as their regular gueuze.

T: The flavor is quite funky also. Lots of grass, hay, wet oak, and must. The honey is there too, but more in a floral sense as it's not really sweet. Lemony tartness provides the typical gueuze character, but nowhere near the bracing sourness of Hanssens Oude Gueuze.

M: The body is medium with the carbonation being quite high, even for a gueuze.

D: I wasn't sure what to expect as I'd heard so many poor reviews, but I liked this quite a bit. It would have been cool to try when it was young and fresh, though.

Serving type: bottle

02-12-2011 01:51:50 | More by womencantsail

jlindros

Massachusetts

4.2/5  rDev +8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Thanks a ton to Francois for cracking this from his cellar.

It pours a crazy fizzy head over a crystal clear golden straw color.

Nose of honey, light fruits, yeast, with a slight lambic like sour and funky fruit.

Taste brings some musty funk, a nice gueze like fruit juice with light tart and sour flavors and dry light yeast funk. SOme light honey flavors, and a dry barnyard flavor. It has a hint of a Brett like flavor, and a really nice effervescence.

The mouth is lighter bodied, delicate, and good carbonation.

Drinkability is pretty good actually, dry finish, some light funk that doesn't go overboard, and nice tart flavors that make the mouth water.

Serving type: bottle

10-26-2010 03:02:31 | More by jlindros

mothman

Saskatchewan (Canada)

3/5  rDev -22.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Pours a white head. Color is a clear golden yellow.

Aroma: Really sweet and funky. It has a lot of honey, oak, spice, and funk. Some vanilla and toffee. Oak shows a bit through the sweetness.

Taste: Oak shows much more here. It has honey, vanilla, lemon zest, light funk. Light medicinal notes show with some acidic flavors. A bit malty.

Mouthfeel: Dry, sweet, and cloying. Medium bodied with a lower amount of carbonation. I don't like the feel to much.

Overall, it is alright, but it is hard to drink a lot of. It is an interesting concept, but it is just hard to drink more than a few ounces of this. I like it a little, but not something I will seek out again.

Serving type: bottle

10-21-2010 02:07:47 | More by mothman

FtownThrowDown

Ohio

4.35/5  rDev +11.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

375ml bottle very generously shared by myself, with PWoods and RoyMunson.

Pours a very translucent urine gold in color. Absolutely no head to be found on the pour. Smell is very sweet, fruit like mead. There are some very nice sour, funky notes as well.
Much more sour in the flavor than the nose would lead on. Very sour with the perfect amount of carbonation. Very nice. This was a very pleasant surprise. Plenty of funkyness and sourness. Will have to go back and pick up a few more bottles, this still has some legs left.

Serving type: bottle

09-04-2009 03:30:53 | More by FtownThrowDown

pwoods

Ohio

3.9/5  rDev +0.3%
look: 3 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Average golden yellow pour. Not much of a head or lacing. Lots and lots of funk on the nose, old beer. There's decent sweetness from the mead, too. Lots of funk and some good sourness. The mead again adds an interesting sweetness that balances the funk and sour but I can't say that they fit together very well. Tasty and interesting, though. Body is medium to medium light with controlled carbo. Drinks ok.

Serving type: bottle

09-04-2009 03:28:04 | More by pwoods

msubulldog25

Oregon

4.13/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

12.7 oz. green bottle, a red-topped cage wrapped around a plump little cork. A grimy-looking layer of sediment/crust darkens the cork, leaving a thin film atop the bottle lip. After warming on the counter for about an hour, I uncorked and poured to a snifter (just after the final out of tonight's NLCS Game 4, a 7-5 Phillies win).

7.9% ABV. "70% Malt Beverage and 30% Mead"

Big thanks to joe1510 for supplying this one.

A: Cork POPS off with the lightest touch; fortunately it stayed wedged in the cage or would have hit the ceiling. Pours clear and VERY fizzy; a sizzling ginger ale-like carbonation, noisy and 2-fingers at its peak. head drops quickly, completely disappearing within a minute. Lovely color: a rose-tinted golden honey color, perfectly clear and showcasing several streams of steady, evenly-paced carbonation.

S: Tantalizingly tart nose upfront tickles the nose: sour grapes, dried apricots. Papery mustiness. Ever-so-faint woody booze, a whiff of char. Then - a minty, vaguely sweet, honey, even some sugar spice and...melon? - the notable inclusion of mead in this otherwise traditional gueuze. Intriguing!

T: Citrus, like grapefruit rind and squeezed lemon - tangy and musty at once. A medicinal bittering, an earthen raspberry, tannic grape and apple skins. Dry yeastiness, like a dusting of chalky flour. A dash of pepper and spice.

M: Active, effervescing mouthfeel the first few sips, but the crispness recedes a little to a veil of yeast and lasting citric tang. Draws the cheeks and curls the tongue a bit, but does not produce the squinting >pucker<. Some soft yeast coats a little; a gentle warmth, too.

D: Fun to drink. Curious flavors, an evolving aroma and a very pretty look and pleasant feel. Really happy to have tried this one and hope to track it down again, 'retired' or not. If that doesn't happen, maybe a journey back to the Hanssens Brewery is in order (I'm sure there's a spare case or two hiding in their cobwebbed cellar).

Thanks to 'Global Beer Tour 2006' for introducing me to Hanssens' wonderful blends.

Serving type: bottle

10-14-2008 04:44:41 | More by msubulldog25