Belgian Geuze is a sour beer blended from multiple years, a fork in the side of many light beer drinkers because it tastes nothing like the devil they know. But it’s known as Brussels Champagne. This bone-dry, complex, highly carbonated, hazy, funky beer can be served in a Champagne tulip. Pithy lemon rind (this is good!), Granny Smith apple, toasted hay, an old beat- en-up oak barrel and the smell of the great outdoors drift to the top of the glass. I know that hay and barn and bone-dry aren’t what everyone wants in their glass, but I’m salivating. You see, outside the world of wine, the antagonists of “bitter” work serenely and consistently with sweet. Hence, black coffee and a donut. For a pairing like this, you’re not sitting on fine threads and regal, measured table settings. You’re Huckleberry Finn or some such character out in the wild with an apple flip and a glass of beer, somewhere in a field. Doesn’t that sound nice? Yes, sommeliers are weird. But this is why we do it. Forever searching for moments that are nice and excruciatingly over- thought. Try it with Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille at your neighborhood liquor store for $10.95. Mi
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