MAXED OUT: Gueuze Fond Tradition

Brother Maximus, getting back on track and countin' it down...

Welcome back to the Thunderdome my sultans of swig, I’m back after a week off for my birthday. Yes, it was an entire week of research for this here blog. You’re welcome. Oh, and you can send any birthday
presents to Hoffer’s Cigar Bar: 8282 La Mesa Blvd. La Mesa, CA
91942. Kthanks!

And I’m back with a vengeance. Today I’m breaking back into my top
10 beers of all time, and this one is a doozy! St. Louis Gueze Fond
Tradition, which is brewed by a Belgian brewery that I’m not even
going to attempt to spell. Not worth your time, nor mine. Let’s get
right into what a gueuze is, and why THIS is my fave, shall we?

So what is a Gueze? Do you remember back when I told y’all that
there are basically three different types of beer? Do you remember
what they were? Lagers/pilsners, ales, and lambics/wilds. I knew you
guys would remember. Like I always say, you’re so smart. Well how
they make a gueze is they combine 2 lambics, one a little older and a little wiser, and the young upstart. They blend these 2 beasts together,
typically age it for a couple 2-3 years and bam! Gueuze!/b>

Now gueuzes fall into a category that we in the beer industry call
sour ales or sour beers… or just plain old sours. The reason for this
is because THEY ARE FREAKIN’ SOUR!!!! I do not recommend that any of
you newbies start out just yet with sour ales. It has taken me a while
to get here, although I do think that it’s a little easier to jump
into sours when you are a hop head like myself (meaning I love me a
good IPA.) So why this gueuze? Aaahchlow me to exchplain.

It comes in a rather pricy cork and wired bottle at about 18 ounces.
You can smell the sour notes as soon as the first drop spills from the
glass, it’s faint orange color dancing in the sun. It gives off very
little head and evens out with a very faint pinkish orange color.
Very light. The nose has a very strong sour, lemon, faint apple,
acidic-like vinegar, and a little dash of HELL YES! Now the taste?
Holy crap in my pants!!! Hits ya in that mouth like ya just shoved an
entire bag of sour patch kids in your face. With every sip there’s a
jowl bustin’ good time to be had. A lot of the same flavors come
through in the flavor as they do in the nose. Tart lemon, apple, nice
and acidic but doesn’t give you acid reflux like some sours can. Or
at least it didn’t the last time I tried it. Oh, and I forgot to tell
you the best/worst thing about sours in general. They take a long
time to drink so you don’t tend to get drunk very fast. You can slow
sip a sour for hours. And the Fond Tradition is only 5% ABV!

Now this will be a first for me: I do not recommend this beer! I
mean, if you like sour beers then I totally recommend this beer.
Howeva! Comma! If you have never tried a sour this is just not the
beer for you. If you are interested in trying and entry level sour, a
lighter sour, if you will, Duchesse De Bourgogne is a great starter.
A little on the sweet side, but a good starter. If you want to jump
into a straight sour beer that’s a little lighter but not sweet (which
is what I tend to like) the Cuvee Rene is a great, light option.

So ya, there ya go! The Gueuze Fond Tradition, the next notch on my
belt of best beers I’ve consumed. As always, thanks for putting up
with my ramblings and you know where to comment.

Until next time my beer-loving brethren, have a beer for me.

(ed. note: Sours are definetely hit or miss with us and certainly a beer for which one has to be in the "mood")