Expectation Versus Reality

[bum]

Trying a gueuze lambic for the first time tonight. I've tried a few sweetened fruit lambics before and quite enjoyed them but found them a bit girly to get too excited about. But have been wanting to get my teeth into a more MANLY lambic experience. I quite like sour and or tart foods and was very excited to buy a bottle of gueuze at the weekend.

Upon trying it now, the flavour takes my back to when I first smelled dead skunk in the States. It really is that bad. As a noob, how can I tell the difference between it actually being bad and just not liking it?

 

[chappo1970]

Bum the best why I can describe it is... well it's like Blue Cheese you either love or you passionately hate it. There's just no in between, no grey area, you either like or your don't... a true lambic that is. No matter how much you try to force yourself you just won't like it. Me I love 'em. However as for the Gueuze I have never tried it so I can't teel you if it a good'un or not.

Cheers

Chappo

 

[bum]

I was prepared for that before I even bought it, Chappo - it is just that this really does seem offensive.

I wasn't exaggerating with the dead skunk call. I really cannot split them. I can't reconcile the idea that this is how it is supposed to be.

 

[rich_lamb]

I've never had one of those beers that was really skunky. They can come across like baby vomit in the aroma - or what is more usually described as "barnyard", "horsey", "goaty", etc.

But skunky sounds like it's lightstruck; been sitting in a green bottle in the sun. So my guess is it's actually bad.

I know what you mean by the girly fruit lambics, they can be a bit sweet and unsatisfying.

 

[chappo1970]

Well I've got to agree with B&T there. Sorry Bum but sometimes aroma can be as if not more off putting than flavour but by the sound of it you've got a bad dose of both. Get your money back from the retailer and try again. There should be some funky odours but great flavours IMO.

Cheers

Chappo

 

[Stuster]

Which gueuze was it? Cantillon?

They certainly can smell/taste strange. Skunk though doesn't sound like any I've had. Urinal is much more common. :chug: :lol:

 

[bum]

Yeah, it was Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio.

I may be causing some confusion for more educated drinkers here - I'm talking about actual, real life (dead) skunk here. Which could be different to skunked beer(?). I guess I'm lucky in that I've never had a beer that is noticeably light-struck so I don't know how this compares to that.

 

[Barry]

I have found gueuze (the few times I have had it) to be very sour (like lactic acid nearly) but clean, certainly not rotten. I am no expert on it though.

 

[bconnery]

If you have the opportunity you could always grab another gueze for comparison.
I certainly wouldn't expect the levels of funkiness and off flavour you are describing, but they can have a strong aroma.

Without smelling the beer you had it is hard to say definitively if we are talking an issue of expectation vs an actual infection.

I had some of one of these on Friday night and it certainly didn't give off aromas of skunk, well, then again I have never smelt skunk so maybe it did

 

[PostModern]

If there is a hint of dead animal, and I mean a trace, just the slightest whiff under a cacophony of other smells like leather, sour stone fruit, and whatnot, then it's expected. If the aroma was overwhelming, then you probably got an oxidised bottle. Return to retailer.

Heard of a bottle shop in Wollongong where once they were selling off all the lambic beers cheap because they "were all off, very sour, so watch it mate"... lovely.

 

[bum]

I was getting nothing on the nose (or palate) other than this as described above. I guess I'm leaning towards infection.

Thanks for the input, guys.

 

[Renegade]

Bum, tell ya what, Ive never had this before (only a few Lindeman's fruit lambics) so I'll buy one this weekend and let you know what my first impressions are. All in the name of science.

Good question though, I have always wondered how you would tell if blue cheese has gone off . I suppose its all in the flavour - by the way i love Blue cheese and otehr strong flavours, so will not go into this beer with a delicate approach to flavours either! Strong, sour, spicy, tart, it's all ghood for me. "Off" is not though.

But a good suggestion was made, go and buy another one (from anotehr retailer) and see what you think.

 

[bum]

Yeah, I'll get around to it at some point but once bitten, twice shy and all that.

I hope it was just a dud bottle I got. Good luck.

 

[mwd]

You haven't lived until you have caught the wiff of a roadkill skunk.

It is a smell you will remember for life

Don't much fancy drinking any beer with that smell thanks very much prefer to stick with cascade.

 

[Maple]

Bum, tell ya what, Ive never had this before (only a few Lindeman's fruit lambics) so I'll buy one this weekend and let you know what my first impressions are. All in the name of science.

Good question though, I have always wondered how you would tell if blue cheese has gone off . I suppose its all in the flavour - by the way i love Blue cheese and otehr strong flavours, so will not go into this beer with a delicate approach to flavours either! Strong, sour, spicy, tart, it's all ghood for me. "Off" is not though.

But a good suggestion was made, go and buy another one (from anotehr retailer) and see what you think.

+1, me too, and all that... Might have to hunt me down one of these and have a go.

as for the skunk smell, you grow up thinking it's the worst smell ever, but if you ever do smell it, go as fast as you can to smell ground up fresh coffee, and have a think about it. There ared striking similarities... and I like coffee...

 

[peas_and_corn]

I've tried that lambic, and I didn't get 'dead skunk' off it. I quite enjoyed it, I shared it with the other half, who quite likes the sour beers.

 

[muckanic]

Lambics aren't just sour; they're also barnyard. You may simply not like Brett - plenty of folks don't. For a cleaner sourness, try a Berliner Weisse. Or for an easy DIY, just add berry fruits to a bland base beer.

 

[bum]

I really didn't get anything that might be described as barnyard (or "horsey" or "goaty" as described above). I know there is a possibility that it might just be that I don't like Brett, I guess that's what I made the thread to discover. But this really was truly awful. The flavour made camp in my mouth for the remainder of the evening and a longneck of (a particularly ordinary) kit brew couldn't even make a dent in it.

I really have only one other taste comparison. I've never had fresh durian but I do know it by reputation. One day in an asian cafe I saw they had durian milkshakes and wondered if that might be a more gentle introduction to the fruit so I bought one. Turns out there is no fresh durian in it - just a cheap synthetic flavouring. They nailed the smell but the flavour was exactly the same. Now I admit I don't know what durian is supposed to taste like but it famously tastes tremendously better than it smells and this just tasted the same as it smelled. And my lambic experience last night was the same. The inital smell was absolutely offensive and the taste was the same. Tried cooling it down and even that didn't take the edge off in any way. It was ghastly.

[EDIT: Thanks for the tip on the Berliner Weisse. I'll make sure to grab one when I cross its path]

 

[Renegade]

Durian smoothies rock :beerbang:

Seriously.

 

[Ronin]

Trying a gueuze lambic for the first time tonight. I've tried a few sweetened fruit lambics before and quite enjoyed them but found them a bit girly to get too excited about. But have been wanting to get my teeth into a more MANLY lambic experience. I quite like sour and or tart foods and was very excited to buy a bottle of gueuze at the weekend.

Upon trying it now, the flavour takes my back to when I first smelled dead skunk in the States. It really is that bad. As a noob, how can I tell the difference between it actually being bad and just not liking it?

I agree with some of the others, I've had several bottles of the cantillon geueze since it started being imported and I love the stuff. There are some strange odours there but I've never got a whiff of dead animal (and I kill mice for a living so I know what dead animals smell like). It really could've been a bad bottle.

Ive been searching for a berliner weisse for a while, it's on my to try list. If you want to taste the lactic acidity try Rodenbach or Rodenbach Grand Cru (more intense). They can be a lot easier to find. They still have some brett in them I think, but the flavour is predominantly lactobacillus in my opinion. I really like the Rodenbach. More than the cantillon I must say.

James