Tasting Room · May 5, 2026
There are bottles you open because you're curious, and there are bottles you open because something tells you the time is right. The Oude Geuze Boon À L'Ancienne Vat 110 Mono Blend — bottled December 15, 2016 — had been waiting long enough. A 375ml of gueuze aged in a cognac barrel, single vat, single blend. One shot.
In the Glass
The colour introduced the story. Deep amber-gold, clear to slightly hazy, with fine carbonation and an off-white head that faded almost immediately. Years of bottle conditioning had done their work. This wasn't the bright straw of a young gueuze — this was something that had lived.
On the Nose
Vanilla announced itself first before slowly melding into honeyed malt, oak, dried wood, and a faint barnyard threading through the background. Brett was there, restrained and polished. The cognac barrel announcing itself clearly before stepping back to let the gueuze breathe.
The vanilla fading into honeyed malt is one of those sensory evolutions that reminds you why you cellar bottles in the first place.
The Palate
Barnyard and brett arrive quietly, threading through an acidity that hovers somewhere between sweet apple and balsamic restraint — measured, never sharp. Mid-palate, burnt butterscotch drifts in on sweetened tannins, the wood lending warmth without weight. The mouthful keeps moving, each sip revealing something the last one held back.
The Finish
Lip-smacking butterscotch. Long, dry at its core, with the barrel's sweetness lingering as the gueuze fades. The cognac had the last word — but the gueuze wrote the sentence..
Final Thought
This was a bottle that rewarded patience completely. The butterscotch linger was still there long after the glass was empty. There's something quietly extraordinary about a 375ml that makes you smack your lips and reach for the bottle you've already finished.
Drink now. At peak. Don't wait any longer.
Filed under: Tasting Room · Lambiek/Geuze/Krieks