Greens on Buford – 750 mL corked & caged. SB15 on the cork, bottled on 11th December 2000. FWIW, this is listed on the bottle as 5%, not 6% as in the BA db.
Good pop on the removal of the cork, and a little white gun smoke. Poured into the Terrapin snifter, the color is a mid orange (Olde English marmalade color) with a decent 1/8th inch, fine bubbled head on the surface of the beer. A smidgen of lace.
Nice farmyard manure in the nose. Mouthfeel is a little more prickly that I was expecting with quite a high carbonation; “fizzy” may be an exaggeration, BUT putting ones ear to the beer reveals are pretty loud and noticeable “crackle”.
Very clean, grapefruit like acidity upfront with some serious tartness. Unusually the sour notes do not linger much, and the beer ends cleanly to yield some yeast in the aftertaste.
It’s definitely a beer for the experienced drinker rather than the novice, but having said that this is a very approachable beer for the style. I must admit I was expecting something much more aggressive and I was pleasantly surprised. I’m guessing that at 8 years old, this has been treated well by time, and when it was younger it may have had some of the traits that I was a little wary of. The aging process has taken this from the potentially harsh Gueuze to the edges of the more approachable Saison. Interesting and well worth a try.