Coming Soon to the LCBO

[matt7215]

Hope I get a change to try this. Haven't seen any listed in Guelph, K/W, London yet.

if you dont get one i can get one for you, or share a bottle

[atomeyes]

When you say it's already 2 years old, what does that mean exactly? The descriptions online say it's a blend of a 4 year old Boon lambic with another Lambic from 2008.

simple summary:

lambic's a style.
gueuze is when you blend various aged lambics together to get the desired taste.
young lambic may taste to crisp/young. 3 year old lambic may be too funky/tart. so blenders - like 3 Fonteinin or Tilquin - will take various lambics and mix them in proportions to get the flavour they want.

and yes, aging is to taste. i just had some Cantillon gueuze on tap. it was fabulous and refreshing, but it was missing some depth. the longer you age it, the more complex it gets. if you let it go for 20 years, it may taste like "complexity" versus "freshness"

[GregClow]

When you say it's already 2 years old, what does that mean exactly? The descriptions online say it's a blend of a 4 year old Boon lambic with another Lambic from 2008.

simple summary:

lambic's a style.
gueuze is when you blend various aged lambics together to get the desired taste.
young lambic may taste to crisp/young. 3 year old lambic may be too funky/tart. so blenders - like 3 Fonteinin or Tilquin - will take various lambics and mix them in proportions to get the flavour they want.

All true, yes.

But in terms of the specific original question - "When you say it's already 2 years old, what does that mean exactly?" - the label states "2011/02/17" as the Bottling Date. So it's essentially already been aged for 2+ years AFTER bottling, regardless of how old the original lambics in the blend were.

[Belgian]

and 12 bottles? man, that's an expensive purchase!

Post subject: I'm kidding. I bought two and left ten for you guys.

OK sorry that was way way too subtle. Who spends $280 on one beer? Unless it's super-rare 750ml's of Westvleteren 14 (see my 'for trade' section.)

[Belgian]

and 12 bottles? man, that's an expensive purchase!

Post subject: I'm kidding. I bought two and left ten for you guys.

OK sorry that was way way too subtle, but the typo was too funny so I left it in. Who spends $280 on one beer? Unless it's super-rare 750ml's of Westvleteren 14 (see my 'for trade' section.)

[MatttthewGeorge]

Hope I get a change to try this. Haven't seen any listed in Guelph, K/W, London yet.

if you dont get one i can get one for you, or share a bottle

Might just have to take you up on that offer, I'll let you know. Thanks Matt!!!

[Craig]

I guess what I was getting at is since a Geuze is a mix of two already aged beers, what's the basis for there being a general guideline for how long you should age a Geuze before drinking? Unless it's just about giving it enough time for the source Lambics to fully blend and get to know each other, shouldn't the aging time depend as much on how long they aged before being mixed as after?

[spinrsx]

new listing, no stock yet:

CENTRAL CITY IMPERIAL IPA FOR AUTISM
LCBO 340901 | 650 mL bottle

Price: $ 9.60

[grub]

I guess what I was getting at is since a Geuze is a mix of two already aged beers, what's the basis for there being a general guideline for how long you should age a Geuze before drinking? Unless it's just about giving it enough time for the source Lambics to fully blend and get to know each other, shouldn't the aging time depend as much on how long they aged before being mixed as after?

Even before blending, each of the threads going into a gueuze will change with time. I've been making the same base recipe since 2009, yet pulling a sample from each fermenter yields slightly different results - even when it's two carboys sitting side by side that were part of the same year's primary fermentation. So, logically, when you put them together, there is still room for the sum to change with time.

As for a magic number for aging this or any other style, there just isn't one. One person's taste might dictate drinking it fresh and another only after X years. My best suggestion would be to learn your preference, either through buying a bunch of a particular beer and tasting bottles periodically as it ages or finding a way to taste a vertical of many years.

[spinrsx]

I wasn't expecting to see this at the LCBO:

UNIBROUE SEIGNEURIALE
Canada | Unibroue Inc
LCBO 343905 | 750 mL | $ 6.95

[matt7215]

I guess what I was getting at is since a Geuze is a mix of two already aged beers, what's the basis for there being a general guideline for how long you should age a Geuze before drinking? Unless it's just about giving it enough time for the source Lambics to fully blend and get to know each other, shouldn't the aging time depend as much on how long they aged before being mixed as after?

Even before blending, each of the threads going into a gueuze will change with time. I've been making the same base recipe since 2009, yet pulling a sample from each fermenter yields slightly different results - even when it's two carboys sitting side by side that were part of the same year's primary fermentation. So, logically, when you put them together, there is still room for the sum to change with time.

As for a magic number for aging this or any other style, there just isn't one. One person's taste might dictate drinking it fresh and another only after X years. My best suggestion would be to learn your preference, either through buying a bunch of a particular beer and tasting bottles periodically as it ages or finding a way to taste a vertical of many years.

in addition to everything that grub said there is also the factor of how the lambic conditions in the bottle. most bottle conditioned sours take much longer to come together then other bottle conditioned beers.

[JesseMcG]

I guess what I was getting at is since a Geuze is a mix of two already aged beers, what's the basis for there being a general guideline for how long you should age a Geuze before drinking? Unless it's just about giving it enough time for the source Lambics to fully blend and get to know each other, shouldn't the aging time depend as much on how long they aged before being mixed as after?

Even before blending, each of the threads going into a gueuze will change with time. I've been making the same base recipe since 2009, yet pulling a sample from each fermenter yields slightly different results - even when it's two carboys sitting side by side that were part of the same year's primary fermentation. So, logically, when you put them together, there is still room for the sum to change with time.

As for a magic number for aging this or any other style, there just isn't one. One person's taste might dictate drinking it fresh and another only after X years. My best suggestion would be to learn your preference, either through buying a bunch of a particular beer and tasting bottles periodically as it ages or finding a way to taste a vertical of many years.

in addition to everything that grub said there is also the factor of how the lambic conditions in the bottle. most bottle conditioned sours take much longer to come together then other bottle conditioned beers.

And in addition to everything everyone else has said, I find my "taste" is a moving target as well. You may begin to enjoy/not enjoy certain things as much over time... so there's REALLY no right answer.

[TheSevenDuffs]

new listing, no stock yet:

CENTRAL CITY IMPERIAL IPA FOR AUTISM
LCBO 340901 | 650 mL bottle

Price: $ 9.60

Interesting. I assume this is not different than their regular Imperial IPA aside from the fact that part of the proceeds are goign to autism?

[Craig]

new listing, no stock yet:

CENTRAL CITY IMPERIAL IPA FOR AUTISM
LCBO 340901 | 650 mL bottle

Price: $ 9.60

Interesting. I assume this is not different than their regular Imperial IPA aside from the fact that part of the proceeds are goign to autism?

That's what it sounds like. According to their website http://centralcitybrewing.com/autism/ a full 5 bucks from each bottle goes to the charity. That's quite a markup per bottle.

[MatttthewGeorge]

new listing, no stock yet:

CENTRAL CITY IMPERIAL IPA FOR AUTISM
LCBO 340901 | 650 mL bottle

Price: $ 9.60

Interesting. I assume this is not different than their regular Imperial IPA aside from the fact that part of the proceeds are goign to autism?

That's what it sounds like. According to their website http://centralcitybrewing.com/autism/ a full 5 bucks from each bottle goes to the charity. That's quite a markup per bottle.

I was thinking I'll pass, due to the price, but if $5/bottle goes to autism, I'm back in. That's awesome!