Isn’t it interesting how our tastes change over time?
About a year ago I tried my first Lambic beer and found it undrinkable, but now I find myself sipping gently from this Gueuze and finding it absolutely delicious.
Especially with the big hearty plate of stewed braising steak and mashed potato I’m having for lunch.
It simply feels right as it cuts across the rich mushroom fuelled gravy.
Cuvée René is an amber coloured beauty that smells of apple trees, ploughed soil, honey and, dae I say it, the countryside in general.
And that includes damp straw and a little bit of silage.
It’s an outdoor smell, a wild and natural smell, and I can’t help wondering why I disliked it so much before.
ce Perhaps it was just the shock of the new.
There’s a soft cheese fug in the background of this beer, though not so much blue and veined as pale and stinky.
Over this slides a super bitter cider apple juiciness that contains lots of rosemary, a little mint, and lots of under-ripe hedgerow fruit.
You also get a tart nuttiness, all fibrous and woody, packed with sap yet dry as a bone.
And then right at the very end there’s a little hoppy flourish, one last slap in the face with stinging nettles and lemon juice that gives way to a surprisingly malty biscuit aftertaste.
I think I may have been converted.