Dark orange with no head. Aroma is of funk, raspberry, tart dark fruit, vinegar, acidic notes and some oak. Taste of very tart raspberries and dark fruit, oak, funk, vinegar and acidic notes. Finishes dry with some sourness in the finish.

Hanssens Artisanaal is the last independent geuze blender in the whole world. At Hanssens, no beer is actually brewed! Instead, they pursue a profession that was very important in the history of lambic style beers, they are solely blenders of beer. Lambic beers are famous for being "wild fermented". Instead of adding a special yeast strain to cause fermentation, some brewers in the Senne river valley leave the warm, sweet, unfermented beer (called wort) open to the elements. Wild strains of yeast and other micro organisms will then seed the liquid. Normally when brewing beer, a brewers yeast will be used to turn sugar into alcohol and certain flavor elements of the beer. In these wild beers, yeast and others will turn sugar into alcohol, acid, and a huge variety of flavor chemicals. Since each batch is different, the beer has to be blended with multiple batches to create a consistent product. Most lambics are created from a mixture of aged sour beer and young, sweeter beer. They are then barrel aged to combine the flavors. Hanssens takes (more...)