Sour

Gueuze

BJCP 23E

A blend of one, two and three year old lambic, refermented in the bottle by the residual sugar the young beer still holds. Bone dry, intensely carbonated and enormously complex.

Vital statistics

Each bar is drawn against the full range of all 98 styles

Original gravity

1.040 - 1.060

Final gravity

1.000 - 1.006

Bitterness

0 IBU - 10 IBU

Colour

3 SRM - 7 SRM

Alcohol

5% - 8%

Colour also 6-14 EBC

What goes wrong

Blending by taste alone. The young lambic supplies the sugar and the yeast for the bottle refermentation, so the ratio is a safety calculation as well as a flavour one.

Commercial examples

3 Fonteinen Oude GeuzeCantillon Classic GueuzeGirardin Gueuze 1882Hanssens Oude GueuzeLindemans Cuvée RenéOude Geuze Boon

Reference examples of the style, as listed in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Availability varies by market and year.

Vital statistics as published in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Not yet checked against the published guidelines: treat these ranges as a planning aid and read the source at bjcp.org before entering a competition.

The rest of the sour family

23A

Berliner Weisse

2.8-3.8% · 3-8 IBU

23B

Flanders Red Ale

4.6-6.5% · 10-25 IBU

23C

Oud Bruin

4-8% · 20-25 IBU

23D

Lambic