Belle-Vue Sélection Lambic (-1999)
Note: the newer versions should be rated here: https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/belle-vue-selection-lambic-gueuze/688895/
4.1
306 reviews
Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium
Community reviews
Thanks Huhzubendah for sharing the bottle! A very special 1999 vintage bottle stored well and poured into a tulip glass showing dark cloudy apricot with quickly dissipating foam.
The nose shows light, mellow, and balanced bretty and acetic notes with light oak.
The palate is lightly carbonated and medium bodied. High but balanced tartness with light apricot and a lot of tart apricot on the finish.
Bottle shared by Keir - thanks again, Keir! 1999 vintage. Pours a super clear bright orange earlier, and it gets murkier later. No head. Aroma of leather, cheesy funk, oak, rubber cement, vegetals and florals, and some apple skin. Flavor of lemon, leather, oak, tart apples, wood, and vinegar. Very tart. Light-bodied, with low carbonation and a dry, very tart mouthfeel. Pretty impressive for the age. Really glad I got to try this one.
Bottle at Koelschip kindly bought by Blue_Zulu! Pours clear orange with no head. Aroma is citrus zest, apples and horseblanket. Taste is sour apple, green grapes, high citric sour. 1999 vintage.
Orange pour. Nose is very acidic, leather, funk. Taste is sharp lemon, extremely acidic and yet no acetone, slight leather. One of the most sour beers I’ve tried. Still very enjoyable.
Bottle at Koelschip. 1999 vintage. Light hazy light amber liquid with small to medium white head. Aroma of apples, light wood, light cardboard, apple skin, earth and grain. Taste is dry and medium to high sour with notes of lemon, apple skin, light vinegar, wood and red berries. Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Awesome. So good for the age.
Pour from bottle @ Mikkeller Bar Aarhus thanks to Rasmus40. 1999 vintage. Cork was all purple. Mhm! Pours a light hazy golden with a small fizzy white head. Aroma is veryyy funky, barnyard, leathery, musky, vinous funk, grapey, green apples and woody notes. Taste is tart fruity, dry, sour, barnyard, leathery, green grapes. Nice! Very complex.
Bottle "1999" @ Mikkeller Aarhus, 5.2%. Hazy amber with tiny head. Aroma is malt, leather, tart, wood, barnyard, oak, funk, fruit and lemon. Flavour is malt, tart, barnyard, very sour, quite acid, leather, wood, oak, funk, fruit and lemon.
Bottle @ Mikkeller, Aarhus. Vintage 1999. Hazy orange amber without head. Aroma is sweet, malty, wood, leather and barnyard. Flavor is medium sweet and rather acidic. Dry and rather acidic finish. 280116
Bottle @ Mikkeller Bar, Aarhus, 1999 vintage. Pours slightly hazy golden orange, no head, a few floaties. Aroma of sourness, wine grapes, leather, barnyeard, tart fruity, green apples, wood. Flavor is very dry and sour, barnyard, leather, wet wood, green wine grapes, dry white wine, tart fruit. Medium body, rather oily mouthfeel, dry and lasting very sour finish. Flavor last very long, very complex brew. 280116
1999 vintage bottle No. 03720. Huge thanks to Gabriel (Erzengel) for sharing this gem. Hazy orange with no head but some lacing. Funky aroma of lemon rind, oranges and some woody notes. Flavour is complex, initially sweet but rapidly becoming shockingly sour with elements of white wine vinegar and a pinch of salt. Mouth feel is oily with smooth but modest carbonation and an acidic finish. The best Inbev stable product that I’ve tried to date. A great surprise!
Many thanks to erzengel for sharing!! Bottle, vintage 1999 bottle # 3720. Pours a hazy reddish honey color without any head. The smell is green apple, musty, mild funk. The taste is intense citrus, green apples, a touch of salt, dry and crisply sour on the end. Light in body with tight, fine carbonation.
Thanks to ygtbsm94 for trading it with me. 1999 vintage No. 03720. Great sourish fruity nose. The beer starts sour-salty, fresh and sour. Lots of round and woody acidity. Extremely deep, fresh sourish-salty. The aftertaste is fresh and woody, quite viscous, sourish-salty. Fascinating!!
huge thanks to Nate, wow this is nice, flat moderate malty gueuze with all the flavors of an amazing drie fontenien gueuze. Barnyard, hay, and gunpowder.
1999 bottle thanks to Craig. Pours a cloudy orange gold with small off white head that diminishes to nothing. The aroma is strong wood, funk, rubber, lemon. Medium mouth, great funk, grape, wood, light tartness, held up very well, really enjoyed this one.
Bottle - Vintage 1999 - Great light fruit and funky tart notes. Hazy gold with almost no head. Bright white grape Tart notes, light funk and a clean finis. I wish I had more.
(750ml bottle no. 4720) clear bright amber gold, no head. Nose of lemon, old books, moss, cellar floor, touch of vinegar, oak, complex. Taste of vinegar, lemon juice, oak, light char, lactic acid, not much Brett to speak of, thin body and low carbonation. Smells super complex and delicious.
Bottle shared at Stevo’s Pre-GABF Tasting (Denver, CO). Pours a nice murky orange amber hue, a bit darker, nice glowing colors with loose ringer offwhite head, mellow lacing with some gentle stick around. Aromas are firmly lactic, lemon and crab apple, firm sourness with nice funk, yogurt, vanillin and oak. Touches of straw, gentle dough. Initial is a bit more muted, sour and nice lemon up front, some grapefruit, white grape. Crab apple, lactic elements and bread. Some yogurt, lactic acidity. Bright, acedic a bit as we move on. Some bread, straw, horseblanket. Backend is a bit acedic and lemony, lactic and sour. Some nice jabs but nothing overdone. Nice gentle carbonation, firmer oak. Touches of green grape, fruit and sourness. Dry and smaller backend. Nice stuff.
Bottle, thanks to SteveO and company. Pours a hazy orange color with white head. Cheese, sour, tangy flavors.
Bottle at home with friends, courtesy of Eric. Vintage 1999. Thanks man! Pour is hazy orange with a small white head and decent lacing. Huge funk, sweet tarts, light salt, some lemon rind, oak, cheese, and oranges in the aroma. Taste is salty, some lemons, urine, horse blanket, white wine vinegar, lime, and oak with a huge acidic finish. Medium body with soft carbonation. Amazing aroma and Definitely tasty, but has get seriously sour over the years.
At Stephen’s 2nd annual Great American Beer Festival Tasting on 10/1/14. Pours orange hazy no head. Aroma is sour, some vinegar, muted. Taste is heavy acidity, makes me sweat, burns my throat, but it is full of lambic sour flavor. Pretty interesting, a great beer to try.
Bottle @ Stephen’s whale slaying. Thanks to Eric for sharing! Pours a murky orange appearance with no head. Very dusty, tannic, cheesy, herbal, lemon, and orange aroma. Pretty acidic. Somewhat sweet. Low bitterness. Dusty, sweet oak, vanilla, light coconut, and somewhat acetic. This is good but was maybe better a few years back. Big thanks for sharing, Eric!
Belle-Vue’s traditional geuze, made for the afficionados since 1991 but later discontinued; tasted in 2005 as an old beer of 12 years of age, which is no problem at all for this style, of course. Very sour geuze, lots of body from lactic acid as well as delightfully refreshing citric acid and both components in perfect balance, very complex with all the typical lambic aromas one can expect, abundant fruitiness, sherry, hay, wood. This product, though sadly out of existence for many a year now, showed that ’Interbrew’ in the nineties was still a very different thing from ’AB InBev’ nowadays, I’m sure something like this is unthinkable in their current management strategies. I hesitate to admit it because of this reason, but Belle-Vue Sélection Lambic was one of the best geuzes I ever had - a masterpiece from a producer as unexpected as one can imagine.
0.75l corked bottle number 03771 @ Tørst. A lovely peachy clear body on this one. Not much of a head to speak about really, but the aroma is just amazing. Lemon sour with kiwi, sour unripe peaches, unripe cantaloupe, there’s also a little bit of paint thinner and ethanol here, traces of both canned pears and those sweet wild strawberries that’s often covered on exhaust. I’m out or words. So many small nuances! And what a set of flavors this old champ has! Yes, it’s a lemonic acidic and sour brut monster, but still not nearly as much as I was expecting. It’s so refreshing and just lovely tasting! Fruity acidic, lots of sour unripe gooseberries and white currants with green strawberries. A swift of white vine vinegar and something that remind me of the summer when I was 7 - painting my parents house. I’m shocked how much I’m enjoying this and it gets better and better when it’s gaining some temperature in the glass. A beautiful experience on a beautiful beautiful day here in what has to be the best place in the whole damn world! 22.06.2013
1999, Bottle #03046. Relatively dark amber liquid. It’s quite cloudy. No head. Just a flat glass of color. Carbonation looks low. Color is darker than expected - curious if that has anything to do with the age of the bottle. The aroma has a firm balanced sourness but little funk. Vanilla, stone fruit, medium yogurt, light vinegar, oak. Reminds me of American sour flavors more than Belgian. Taste has fairly heavy lactic-forward tartness. Lots of sourness and little funk, again. Tart apricots, grapes, berries. Interesting stuff. Carbonation is low. Kinda flat, really - not sure if that’s from the age or not; the cork is good. Sourness in the back of your throat. Fun to try an old lambic.
750 mL 1999 vintage bottle #03046 shared with popery. Aroma has quite a bit of stone and tropical fruit with some medium light lactic acid and faint acetic character. Some medium light earthy herbal notes but not the barnyard funk you get from some other gueuzes. Light oak and some orange peel notes. Pours a fairly cloudy golden orange with only a faint head that quickly disappears. No lacing no legs. Flavor is rather nice with medium acidity, mostly lactic with faint acetic. Moderate stone fruity notes with some overripe tropical fruit, especially pineapple. Citrus notes, especially orange but some lemon and lime zest as well. Medium light oak notes. Medium light, herbal earthy notes. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with very low carbonation. Low acidic astringency with low alcohol warmth. Overall, a very nice gueuze, but not my favorite ever. Not as much barnyard funk and Brett complexity as you get from some of the bigger gueuze names. Nice acidic complexity though and some nice fruit character. 8-3-8-3-16 for 3.8 for this bottle.
750 ml bottle of 1989 Fond Gueuze.
This one has a better aroma than the 1999 with more earthy, funky notes and a more complex acidity. This bottle also had some carbonation and a small white head that persisted a bit on the edges. Flavor is better with more complex acidity and funk. Nice woody notes that the 1999 was lacking. Acidity is a bit stronger. Showing a bit more age, but not horrible.
(Backlog) 1992 bottle at spontaneous fermentation. Hazy golden pour with tan head. Spiced aroma, touch of oxidation, with funky notes. Spice, funky, leather, musky and dusty flavor tones. Enjoyable.
1999 vintage Bottle shared at Grote Dorst. Pours clear dark golden with a small white head. Aroma is big funky, musty cellar, fruity. Flavour is really heavy acidic, maybe a little too much. Unfortunately when trying this I was feeling a little worse for ware after a massive beer tasting in Brussels the night before. After enjoying a small amount this fine vintage whale, said whale proceeded to violently exit my body in a blend of old lambic and stomach acid. On the bright side, I got to enjoy it twice!
Bottle ’99 - pours an amber color. Very tart aroma with some grassy notes. The taste is extremely sour, almost too much with some acidic notes.
24.04.2014, 0,75l bottle (1999 vintage, bottle #5941) @ BBGTC tasting:
No head, just some bubbles. Aroma is mild and smooth acidic, sour socks, sorrel, thinner, oak, grass, hay, citrus peel, old lemon juice. Taste is very acidic sour, sorrel, raw rhubarb, old lemon juice, sour socks, grass, oak, thinner, citrus peel. Medium bitterness, nice dry acidic mouthfeel. Nice!
Bottle No 05941. Pours a dark golden with no head. Aroma is sour and fruity. Hints of paint-thinner and oxidation. Oak and barn. Taste is citric-sour, heavily so. Not much more to say really. Medium body with little to no co2.