Brouwerij Boon - Oude Geuze Boon Black Label Edition No. 5

This World Beer Cup Gold Award-winning beer is a blend of 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old lambics that have been carefully aged in oak foeders, giving a delicate sourness, bright citrus, and a nicely dry finish. This oude geuze is the newest beer in this special offer, with a small amount of the latest batch just recently landing stateside.

This Boon lambic pours a deep, golden-yellow color, capped by massive white foam that shows excellent retention and lacing. Firm head formation, and clearly a well-constructed beer at first glance. Generous, vibrantly lemony aromatics lead alongside a subtle funk and acidity. This is beautifully mouthwatering and tart, with elements of lemon and lime as well as some lightly honeyed malt sweetness at the core. Seamlessly blended and incredibly easy to get into, this offers restrained tartness with everything we’re looking for in oude geuze.

This shows medium-high CO2, nicely bubbly without being overly effervescent. There’s well-developed lemony tartness, soft funk, barnyard character, along with subtle amounts of spice and oak leading; the barrel impact is quite nice and toasty throughout. Reasonably dry core, with lots of well-developed acidity, though not as sharp as a lot of other lambics out there; this is perfectly blended, soft in profile, and just highly generous in all the areas you’d like it to be. Bracing lemon acidity that slowly builds. This shows a well-rounded mid-palate that hints at the 7% ABV; there’s light honeyed core sweetness here that gives this almost a Sauternes-like parallel; not quite bone dry, but well-developed acidity that keeps this from ever feeling heavy. Lasting finish of lemons, spicy oak, and a hint of cinnamon.

Oude Geuze Boon Black Label Edition No. 5 should continue to age gracefully for at least a few years in one’s cellar, perhaps significantly longer, but this is drinking super smooth as it is. Store upright in a cool, dark location. For pairings: this classic oude geuze has us inclined to go with traditional mussels and frites, or alongside some rich herbal and goat cheeses.