Gueuze

Ingredients

What to buy

• Oude Geuze or Vieille Gueuze
• the words oude or vieille matter
• see the note
• Cantillon, Boon, 3 Fonteinen, Girardin, Tilquin
• in corked or capped bottles
• see the note on why no method is given

To serve

• at 10 to 14 degrees
• in a tumbler, a flute or a wine glass
• opened carefully, see the safety note
• poured leaving the sediment behind

To eat with

• oysters
• aged Gouda or Comté
• charcuterie
• shrimp croquettes
• steak tartare
• anything fried

Directions

1. Put together, the young sugars restart the fermentation. Nobody needs to begin with the driest bottle in the shop.
2. Chill it first. Cold liquid holds gas in solution. Let it stand.
3. Hold the cork and turn the bottle rather than the cork.
4. Keep a hand over it throughout.
5. Let it out with a hiss rather than a bang. Open it over a sink with a glass ready.
6. Stand the bottle upright for a day or two. Pour slowly in one motion.
7. Leave the last centimetre behind. Cold suppresses the aroma.

Technique

• Gueuze bottles are under high pressure, because the second fermentation happens in a sealed bottle and the gas has nowhere to go. The heavy bottles, corks and wire cages are not decoration. Chill it first — cold liquid holds gas in solution and a warm bottle gushes — let it stand rather than opening it straight after carrying it, and open it over a sink with a glass ready, because an old bottle can foam over entirely.
• Point it away from your face and from anyone else. A cork under pressure leaves at speed and eye injuries from champagne-style corks are documented. Hold the cork, turn the bottle, keep a hand over it and let it out with a hiss rather than a bang.
• Pressure keeps building with age, so a ten-year bottle is not the same proposition as a fresh one.
• Look for oude or vieille on the label. Oude Geuze and Vieille Gueuze are a legally protected Traditional Speciality Guaranteed that cannot be sweetened or filtered; a plain geuze may be sweetened, filtered and pasteurised into a milder, simpler drink. The sweetened kind is genuinely easier to start with, and nobody needs to begin with the driest bottle in the shop.
• Young lambic still holds unfermented sugars and live yeast; old lambic has finished and carries the complexity. Blended and bottled, the young sugars restart fermentation and produce the sparkle — nothing is carbonated artificially.
• Blending is a skilled trade of its own: the blender tastes barrels and judges how a blend will taste in a year rather than today. Some houses, Tilquin among them, blend without brewing at all.
• Stand the bottle upright for a day or two, pour slowly in one motion and leave the last centimetre. The sediment is harmless and makes the beer cloudy and yeasty; some drinkers pour it in deliberately.
• Serve it at ten to fourteen degrees. Cold suppresses the aroma and sharpens the acid unpleasantly. A tumbler is traditional; a flute or wine glass shows more.
• It is genuinely sour and almost entirely dry, and people expecting beer are surprised. Approach it as you would a dry sparkling wine — that expectation fits it far better.
• The acid and carbonation both cut fat, which is exactly what champagne does. The nickname is earned rather than borrowed.
• Do not reduce it hard when cooking. Sourness concentrates and turns harsh.
• It ages for years and improves, rounding out and developing sherry and dried fruit notes while the carbonation increases. Store upright, cool and dark. Opened, it goes flat within a day.
• Do not drink alcohol if you are pregnant or driving.

Substitutions

• A sweetened geuze is the gentler introduction to the same beer.
• Oude Kriek is the cherry version of the same blend.
• Berliner Weisse and Gose are the German sour wheat beers.
• A dry sparkling cider or a brut sparkling wine fills the same place at a table.
• American coolship beers follow the same method elsewhere.
• Non-alcoholic sour beers are beginning to appear.

Variations

• Oude Geuze is the traditional protected designation.
• Kriek blends the same lambic with sour cherries.
• Framboise uses raspberries.
• Faro sweetens straight lambic with candy sugar.
• Blenders such as Tilquin buy lambic rather than brewing it.
• Single-barrel and vintage bottlings are released by several houses.

History

Blenders combine lambics of different ages so the young beer’s sugars restart fermentation; the bottle-fermented result is nicknamed Brussels champagne.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gueuze?

Gueuze is a wine & spirit from Belgium: blend of young and old lambic refermented in the bottle, dry and sparkling. Blenders combine lambics of different ages so the young beer’s sugars restart fermentation; the bottle-fermented result is nicknamed Brussels champagne.

How long does Gueuze take to make?

Gueuze takes 5 minutes of preparation and none of cooking. The recipe makes buy by the bottle. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Gueuze?

Yes, within limits. A sweetened geuze is the gentler introduction to the same beer. Oude Kriek is the cherry version of the same blend. Berliner Weisse and Gose are the German sour wheat beers. A dry sparkling cider or a brut sparkling wine fills the same place at a table. American coolship beers follow the same method elsewhere. Non-alcoholic sour beers are beginning to appear.

What is the most important thing to get right in Gueuze?

Let it out with a hiss rather than a bang. Open it over a sink with a glass ready.