La Vie est Belge
(Batch of Lambic Vin Jaune / La Vie est Belge)
Brasserie Cantillon in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital Region, Belgium 🇧🇪
Lambic Style - Gueuze Special|
Score
8.38
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Alengrin (11675) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 7 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 10
Cantillon's famed geuze made from lambic aged on barrels of vin jaune, a very specific type of wine endemic to the French Jura region and production-wise closer to sherry than to regular wine; tasted from a vintage bottle at Cantillon's own premises during the Quintessence event. Medium thick, regularly shaped, egg-white, moussy but opening head over a hazy golden blonde beer with warmer peachy tinge. Incredibly attractive, quite unique aroma in which the sherry-like properties of the vin jaune are beautifully and quite expressively integrated in the lambic character; the combination of the two breathes impressions of barnyard, yellow curry paste of curry powder, lots of sherry-like nuttiness, sour apples, dusty haystacks, old white port, raw green gherkins, dusty old cupboards, cheese rind, paprika, gooseberries. Crisp, lambic-estery onset, teeming with crabapple and unripe plum, lemon peel edge, sour and a bit puckering at first but softening as the palate progresses into more and more complexity, highlighted by a refined, lambrusco-like carbonation. A soft, wheaty soil carries a structure of lambic and vin jaune merging into one another and producing that typical yellow curry-like aspect again retronasally, raw unpickled gherkin or courgette, walnuts, old sherry or white port wine, dusty old attic and sour apples - too much to break down into details really... Very 'old' woody character, vinegar-tinged sourness in the end, lambic funk and vin jaune nobility stay intertwined in a hugely fascinating manner. I was looking forward to trying this one and it comes as no surprise that it scores so high on this site, this is a unique, utterly complex and immensely interesting lambic - on a par with the greatest drinks of this world, regardless to which type of beverage they belong. This 'beer' was a truly memorable and awe-inspiring experience, glad I sampled this masterpiece, easily the best Cantillon I ever had and most certainly among the very best beers ever for me 'tout court'. With something as absolutely brilliant as this, scores on RateBeer seem petty and irrelevant - so I see no reason why does would not deserve a full 5/5.
Travlr (30174) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 7 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Quintessence. Hazy golden yellow color, white head. Soft mellow funk in the aroma. Soft sour stonefruit taste.
SinH4 (15514) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 7 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9
Bottle, completing all Top12 Geuzes with this, yay! Hazy golden color with white head Aroma is nutty cheese, super comté funk, hay, walnuts. Taste is cheesy, nutty, lemony, hay, full on schabziger. Very nutty comté aftertaste. Silky mouthfeel with medium carbonation, albeit not very complex. I am amazed at how a beer can taste this much like a Comté, but it is still quite simple; on the other hand, it is extremely tasty. With a bit more complexity in the flavour, this might just be JvR's masterpiece.
Beertalk (16426) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 7 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
Bottle at Quintessence. Hazy dark golden with a small white head. Aroma of wood, funk, dessert wine and cognac. Dry and tart flavour with lots of wood, nuts, dessert wine.
Kermis (23501) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 8 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 10
Bottle at Cantillon during Open Brewery Day. So happy to finally try this person white whale! Clear dark golden with a white head. Aroma shows of the Vin Juane beautifully with wonderful oxidized cherry notes, toffee and oak along with a lovely dry funk, cobwebs and vinous notes. Flavour is light moderate sweet and sour, much more sweetness than I'd expect in a geuze, but balancing perfectly in this one. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. Stunning and absolutely worth the wait!
Ferris (26026) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 8 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle - Light bright citrus and curry notes. Touch neutral. Clear gold with a decent white head. Bright citrus acidity and a light sweetness. Again quite neutral compared to other lambic, that earthy light woody cooking spice and not much else.
tderoeck (22946) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 9 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Imported from my RateBeer account as Cantillon La Vie est Belge (by Cantillon):
Aroma: 8/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 14/20, MyTotalScore: 3.5/5
26/XI/16 - 75cl @ Vini Birre Ribelli (Brussels) - BB: n/a (2016-1394) Thanks to sebletitje and 77ships for sharing today's beers!
Clear orange beer, no head. Aroma: grains, very rural, fruity touch, pears, herbal, spicy. MF: soft carbon, medium body. Taste: very very oxidized, this one. Spicy, dry and dusty, little fruity, lot of wood, soft acidity, bit lemony. Aftertaste: more oxidation, wood notes are clearly present.
Clarkvv (16760) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 9 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 10
2016 bottle drunk 10/8/16.
Rusty golden with a good clarity and large, off-white head showing good retention for the style.
Oh wow. I’ve had a lot of grape lambics and nothing even remotely like this. Obviously the grapes having been transformed in to a marvelous wine has a lot to do with that but wow, this is really something else. Just the most buoyant nose of kumquat, passion fruit and gooseberry mixing with wet hay-like funk and light black pepper. The oxidation from the wine is even here, creating further complexity with the light madeirasation. None of this masks the lambic, however, which is funky, bright and full of farmy goodness; light sulfur, hay and such. No alcohol or flaw. Completely wraps itself about the nose and I suspect this is one of those bottles which will sit empty for a year and still smell good.
Gooseberry again, is prominent in the flavor, with light tannin from the oak and typical malt/wheat softness combining with the ultra-fine carbonation to provide a very soft texture. The fruity wine character persists and is joined by a spicy, sandalwood-like note and also more light sherry/madeira suggestions that add a completely different element. You’ve got the fruitiness from the wine providing light sweetness, tartness and all sorts of interesting gooseberry/kumquat/passion fruit notes, yet also adding the oxidative element that surprisingly works so well in lambics (just look at the numbers on Zenne y Frontera). Then of course you have the lambic which is nicely sour, adding plentiful lactic and brett acids, light cheese/citrus rind and lingering mouth-puckering acidity. Really, really awesome beer and I can’t wait to both try it again (hopefully) and even more importantly, try some of Mr. Tissot’s wines.
Was on the fence between 4.8, 4.9 and 5.0, and it doesn’t really matter, but Fu*k it, I’m just giving it a 5.0. Cantillon needs more hype anyways.
jtclockwork (20063) reviewed La Vie est Belge from Brasserie Cantillon 9 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 10
Bottle (need label)- Grana Padano share. Pours gold white head - nose/taste of white grape, funk, sweet white wine, banana taffy (in nose only), oak, grapefruit rind. Touch of caramel sweetness in taste - medium body
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
01-05-18 // taster at Cantillon Quintessence 2018. 4.0 . . 05-05-16 // sample at Cantillon Quintessence 2015. Orange colour. Fruity sourness. Grapes. Dry wine notes. Well balanced. 4.1