Why Does Belgian Gueuze Beer Taste So Funky?

Beer is one of the oldest and most popular alcoholic beverages in the world, with many countries brewing their own unique styles. Whether it's a craft beer, stout, or the ever-popular lager, there's a type out there for almost every taste bud. Belgium is a country that's known for its beer culture, with unique fermentation methods and over 250 breweries. The topic recently came up in a conversation between the Takeout team and LJ Whirley, certified cicerone and associate director of culinary arts at Newfields in Indianapolis.

As the conversation turned to Belgian beer, Whirley specifically mentioned a traditionally blended variety called gueuze beer (pronounced "gooze"). This is a type of sour beer which Whirley describes as "golden in color and acidic to drink –- an excellent companion to a big stinky cheese." 

The funky taste comes from the three different batches of lambic beer, according to Whirley, "a 1-year old, 2-year old, and 3-year old, blended together by the blendmaster." As Whirley explains it, " The reasoning behind the blending of the beers is to offer the funk and acid of the 3-year tamed by the youth of the 'yet to get too funky' 1-year and the stability of the 2-year." Its readiness is determined by taste by the blendmaster.

So, gueuze beer is essentially a blend of lambic beer at different stages of fermentation. For those who don't know, lambic beer is also prepared in a unique way. After boiling the pale malt and unmalted wheat, it is exposed overnight to yeast and bacteria. It also comes into contact with more microorganisms once it is pumped into the cask. The fermentation from different bacteria is what gives gueuze and lambic beers their signature funky and sour taste. Although this type of exposure would be considered an infection with another style of beer, in this case it's needed to get the flavor right.

For those of us far from Belgium, there are offerings of gueuze beer in the US, but LJ Whirley said they can be on the pricier side. There are also some US breweries who blend their sour beers in a similar method, like Upland Brewery in Indiana. Whirley had this to say about Upland, "I don't think they offer this at the scale they use to due to waning popularity of sour beers, but they did several where they used the base lambic and blended in a fruit component that was always excellent." Luckily, there's plenty of other sour beer options available in the US if that's your go-to drink, even if the gueuze remains out of reach for most.