Hanssens Mead the Gueuze
Unique blend of 70% Hanssens Traditional Gueuze and 30% classic Lurgashall
Mead.
Mead.
3.4
315 reviews
Dworp, Belgium
Community reviews
Bottle shared by Puzzl at Zach and Matt’s 4/20 tasting. Pours dark caramel. No head. Nose and taste of caramel, candi and dark sugars, sock fermented old fruit, honey and dirt/earth. Medium body.
Bottle shared by Andy at Zach & Matt’s tasting. Don’t know the vintage but it was obviously fairly old. Pours dirty yellow and completely flat (big suprise). Aroma is dirty fruit and old bottled faro sugar. Taste is a balance of tartness and honey. Slightly sweet and slightly tart. Mouthfeel is very light and not syrupy at all. Interesting.
Received from a generous BA. I have been intrigued by this for awhile, couldnt wait to finally open it. This has been sitting in my fridge for a little while now and I’ve been apprehensive about opening it because it has a ton of white floating stuff at the top of the beer in the bottle. Opened the bottle to a very small pop and the beer poured a still orange brown in color and had some white floating stuff on the surface despite a careful pour. Nose is probably the highlight of the beer to me. It has some sharp lemon, solvent, and soft sweetness to it. The mead is actually a nice complement to the sharpness of the gueuze. Flavor isn’t all too impressive, it’s reminscent of an unblended lambic with a sweet finish. The flavor is watery and the lemon is pretty muted. It is slightly oxidized as well. Light mouthfeel, gentle acidity, no carbonation, and a short, abrupt finish. I was thankful to experience this, but this isn’t something I would revisit. Still, it’s a cool and unique concept from Hanssens.
bottle at akkurat. nice sour and funk! but the honey comes trough and really makes it sweet although it’s not sweet at all when you taste it! the honey just is there in a nice way! good beer a must have!
Finally got to try my #1 most wanted beer! FINALLY!!!!! Thanks so much Adam!! So, poured into Adam’s Drie Fonteinen tumbler, out on his back porch in the Montana sunshine. Pours hazy deep gold; thin white head, poor lacing. Nose is clean and earthy: really nice fresh lemon and salt, with apricot, funk, tea. Really amazed how clean this is for a decade-old Hanssens, I kinda thought it would either be flat or an abomination, but this is lovely! Flavours of white peach, salt, sweat, REALLY full-bodfied, like a Mead, perfumed in the mouth as well. Spectacularly dry, and so thick and bizarrely heavy, but so tart that it can’t help but be refreshing. Wonderful stuff!
Bottle at Akkurat. It pours hazy orange, with a quickly dissipaiting white head. The nose is honey, apricot, tangerine, orange blossom and marzipan. The taste is tangy orange, grapefruit, kumquat, lemon, light honey, poached pear and a touch of butter with a tart finish. Medium body and fine, prickly carbonation. A great experimental sour mead.
Old bottle of Mead the Gueuze that I finally got around to opening up.
A: Slightly hazy golden-orange body. Not a single bubble -- the way only Hanssens can do!
S: Light lambic must with a bit of oak. A dose of vinegar and a lemon-honey sweetness that was the obvious influence of the mead.
T: Musty, funky oak, lemon acidity, white vinegar, cough-drop like sweetness. Generally, this tasted a little "stale" -- perhaps too much age on this.
M: Dead flat. But I didn’t mind the stillness. Semi-dry finish. High, but not blistering acidity.
O: A unique brew, even for a Hanssens’ creation,
Big thanks to Ryan for stashing a pour for me. 375mL poured into a blank geuze tumbler. Pours a light gold with fine sediment, very low carb. Honey, light funk, and a bit of lemon...smell is mellow and unique. This is a great balance of sweet mead and funky lambic. Blend seems closer to 50/50, offering a diminished, lactic sourness paired with a delicate and dry mead. Mouthfeel is thin, a bit watery, and finishes quite dry. Mellow, easy to throw back, but a bit past it’s prime in my opinion.
Got at Brasserie 4:20. Still clear honey colored pour. Slight head when forced. Nice funky, earthy aroma. Can almost make out the honey underneath the gueuze character. Sweet taste that is very mead-like. But the tart and sourness soon takes its place and reminds you what this is. I like it. I don’t think I would pay as much again, but I might.
Purchased at Maproom.
Pours a hazy bright yellow. Nice bright tart gueuze aroma. Hints of barnyard and must. Flavor is mostly gueuze with a hint of honey sweetness in the finish. Unique but not worth the price.
(Bottled, 0.375l, 9% ABV) The cork had dried, so no pop at all. Tart honey nose with barnyard notes. Flavor is earthy with lambic tartness and saisony-barnyardy notes. Alcohol fully hidden. Medium to full body with no CO2. This was probably a very old sample, but still nice despite the total flatness.
ugly cork, looks like the mead seeped, very sticky cork and around the rim... the beer is dark copper, mostly clear, not much of a head at all... nose is what is sounds like sweet honey mead with a sour finish, more honey (very sweet honey at that) than anything but I’m liking this super unique aroma... taste is incredibly boring and doesn’t reflect the nose at all, honey is all gone and shows off as bit of a sweeter gueuze, lightly sour more bitter sourness than anything... I’d pass on this
A: As soon as the cage was fully loosened, the cork exploded from the bottle, shooting all the way across the room and the beer began gushing out of the bottle. Once contained in a glass, the beer is a fairly clear golden-orange color with a big white head.
S: Smells amazingly funky. Very, very musty with a lot of wet hay and oak, and perhaps a bit of cork. A definite barnyard quality to it as well. The mead/honey is there and is quite floral. There is, strangely, some vanilla too. Lactic, but not as much as their regular gueuze.
T: The flavor is quite funky also. Lots of grass, hay, wet oak, and must. The honey is there too, but more in a floral sense as it’s not really sweet. Lemony tartness provides the typical gueuze character, but nowhere near the bracing sourness of Hanssens Oude Gueuze.
M: The body is medium with the carbonation being quite high, even for a gueuze.
D: I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’d heard so many poor reviews, but I liked this quite a bit. It would have been cool to try when it was young and fresh, though.
25th May 2007
Warning! Early amateur rating! Very crisp and sharp gueuze with an unsubtle taste of honey in the mid and the finish. Unusual, nice.
Golden with a little vanishing white head. The aroma is dominated by a sweet flowery honey note while the gueuze counterpart is little noticeable but for a subtle leathery note. The flavour is sweet and very leathery.
En mycket trevlig och annorlunda gueuze.
Blandingen av gueuze och mjöd tycker jag gav en ölen en ny dimension. Lite fylligare munkänsla, trevlig sötma av tydlig honung – och kombinerat med den gueuzens klassiska syrlighet. Fantastisk gott!
Bottle at Akkurat in September 2010.
Amber with a brief white head. Sweet, funky aroma of honey, apples and some fruits. Interesting and good taste, sweet with honey. Very drinkable with a thicker mouthfeel compared to a normal gueuze. A nice mead/beer I have to say.
Bottle shared by Theis. Clear golden with a medium white head. The aroma is light acidic, honey, apple and sour fruit. The flavour is honey, acid, fruit, leather and citrus. Long acidic finish.
Bottle at home. Clear amber - white head. Sourness, ok honey, acid sourish notes, green aples, nutty, sparkling. high sourish, lacto, bretty.
Bottle at T&Ms. Pours a hazy yellow. Smells of cherry sauce. Sweet with strong aromas of cherries and marzipan. Meidum to ful bodied. Fizzy carbonation. Cheery finish.
Hazy golden with a small white head. Funky aroma with grapefruit honey and herbs. Dry funky and grapefruit flavour, nice tartness, along with bees wax and honey sweetness.
38cl, at 9%Vol, recently retired exclusive brew, Gueuze blended with Mead, from the brewery, complex sour brew, heavy and spicy, yet balanced, cloudy, nearly no head, good brew, yet original!
Bottle. Pours hazy yellow with a soft, medium white head. Sour, tart aroma with light fruits, grass and some mustiness. Flavor has fruity sweetness up front with some berries and honey, then the tartness and sourness takes over. Light to medium in body with fizzy carbonation. Smooth mouthfeel. Lingering fruity sourness. Very good.
Entered to celebrate my 4800th Rating. Thanks a lot to Alex from 420 for pulling this out his cellar upon my request. Pours clear golden with small bubbles on top. Nose is oxidized and woody. Tart and acidic. Tart and dry flavor. Very mellow still. Dry, crisp and sour. Lovely!
Bottle. [thank you, after4ever]
Pours clear golden with a small, frothy, white head that soon disappears. Aroma has lots of sweet honey, marzipan, light tartness, apple. Highish carbonation, very dry mouthfeel. Flavour is light vinious, dry, oaky, honey, light malty and some good tartness. Light red apple and heather. Weird.
bottle consumed 10/21/2009.
cork came out without a fight... hazy orange-y iced tea color with 27 bubbles for a head... uncarbonated?... yep!
it smells much like a traditional mead at first... honey, herbs, vanilla and grainy earth followed by the gueuze...dust, minerals/cement, lemon, sweet spice akin to cinnamon, dust and tart peaches... eating jarred peaches sitting in my grandmother’s cellar sounds about right.
the taste is much like the aroma only turned down a few notches... sadly, it doesn’t live up to the aroma’s hype. it is tart but not nearly as robustly tart as the nose lead me to believe. it is mineral-y and dusty mostly with the mead honey notes being secondary though it is dry throughout with a slightly bitter finish.
the lack of bubbles gives the medium body a slick oily texture... yet it is prickly from the tartness which keeps it interesting.
neat mix. interesting and unusual for sure... 8/4/6/3/15/3.6
375ml bottle (Cracked Kettle, Amsterdam)
Opened with barely a pop. Clear, lightly carbonated, and honey-coloured. Lovely (English) meady aroma, not so much gueuze there, one that travels quite a way. In the mouth it’s really quite crusty and aged - there’s an immediately palpable dryness, and the retronasals are funky like a classic gueuze. Much more of a gueuze than a mead taste-wise. The mead definitely contributes some honey notes, but unfortunately also contributes some noticeable alcohol occasionally. Palate quite crisp. Finish very crisp. If this didn’t finish with a waft of alcohol, this would be excellent. Final long finish is back to honey again. The two haven’t blended so much, but they do play off each other nicely at different times during the experience.
375 ml bottle poured a clear tarnished gold with a small lingering ivory head. Aromas of honey, grapefruit, earthiness, light vinegar and light funk. Palate was light bodied and crisp with a dry tart finish. Flavors of honey, earthiness, citrus, light vinegar and light funk with a crisp dry lingering tart funky finish. Very enjoyable!
Bottle from Malt & Vine. Nasty crusties where the cork meets the bottle. I’m thinking this has been around awhile. Cork hit the ceiling with a loud pop. Pours hazy honey color with a frothy off-white head that goes down in a strange process. Aroma is something like honey vinegar. Medium body with frothy carbonation. Flavor is medium sour, somewhat funky, but relatively smooth. Brett the way I understand gueuze should be. This stuff is deceptive. It drinks like there’s no tomorrow. Aroma is starting to smooth out. Not getting lots of honey here, but something like wood is coming out. Burps excellently. Finish is relatively clean. I’m finally beginning to get something like sweet, but it’s very subdued. Get this if you can.
Poured a clear orange. Nose is funk, sweet sugars, vinegar. Flavor was awful. a weird blend of sweet boozey mead mixed with earthy funky cheesy sour beer. Pretty tough to choke down.