Gueuze (Oude Geuze)

Method

Blend of one-, two- and three-year-old lambics, bottled to referment; Oude Geuze: oldest component aged in wood at least three years, weighted average age at least one year.

Character

Highly carbonated, dry, sour and complex; citrus, orchard fruit and 'barnyard' Brettanomyces notes.

Blending

Gueuze is made by blending lambics of different ages, roughly one part young to two parts old, and bottling the blend so that it ferments again in the bottle. Blending may be done outside the brewery: some of the best gueuzes come from blenders, who ferment, age, blend and package the beer. Some modern producers sweeten their gueuze after fermentation; the traditional product is dry.

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Oude Geuze, a protected speciality

The 1997 EU registration file defines Oude Geuze (Vieille Gueuze) as a blend of lambics whose weighted average age is one year or more, with the oldest component aged in wooden barrels for at least three years. The blend must referment and be conditioned on its sediment. The file also sets limits: at least 12.7 °Plato, a pH of no more than 3.8, colour up to 25 EBC and bitterness up to 20 units. Registered in 1997, the names were entered as a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed with reservation of name in December 2017.

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