Mort Subite Oude Gueuze (Fond)

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Clear dark yellow w/ off-white lasting lacing foam head, looks as beer should look. Aroma is light sour, so is taste. Not too outspoken, still. Green apples, always taste green apples. (Antwerpen 201409)

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Shared bottle at local tasting. Deep golden colour, low white head. Lovely and beguiling aroma of brettanomyces lambicus, white wine vinegar and farmhouse. Sour and acidic flavour, clean, lemony and vinegary - but (in a perverted sense): GOOD!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Best By Date September 2011; Sampled January 2009
A reasonable pour into my large Tripel Karmeliet tulip produces a fat-two-finger thick, frothy, pale, cream-white colored head. The beer is a honey-amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, copper-gold color when held up to the light. The aroma has a sweet, grassy grain character to it that is backed by a solid tartness as well as some spicy, woody oak notes towards the finish. Some sharp notes that are something like phenolics, perhaps a bit of acetone sort of perfume the aroma of this beer; this seems to get magnified a bit as the beer warms up. A touch of woody mushroom is noticeable just before the lactic tartness kicks in, but there also seems to be a touch of acetic character here in the finish of the nose.

Fairly sour, this actually shocks my palate a bit. The sourness has a nice bite to it that, along with some tannic oak character, grips the palate and lingers after each sip. This tastes fairly clean, given the ample acid character; there does seem to be a wisp of Brettanomyces that sort of perfumes the palate, it lingers throughout the flavor profile with a characteristic sweat-stained, musty blanket and musk note. There is an astringency that grips the palate after the beer has left the mouth. This is definitely more sour than anything, but there is a nice back note of oak and just a touch of funkiness to this brew. The oak provides a bit of texture that keeps the from being watery, but this is still nice and quaffable. The taste bears out the dominant lactic acid notes that are backed by just a hint of acetic.

This is pretty decent; there is something about the complexity, or lack thereof, that is a bit wanting, but I like that this is pretty decently sour.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Bottled. Slightly hazy orangeish golden colour with small white head. Aroma is sour fruits along with some wooden and earthy/barnyardy notes. Flavour is pleasantly sour fruits along with some vanilla and sour wooden notes. Wellbalanced. Good Mort Subite product.