Lou Pepe Kriek
(has 21 batches)
Brasserie Cantillon in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region, Belgium 🇧🇪
Lambic Style - Kriek Winter|
Score
8.42
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Blend of Schaerbeek cherries with two-year-old lambic - 300 g per litre.
Beer with character that is balanced and very fruity.
Schaerbeek cherries originate from the Brussels Region, and up until the 1960s these local sour cherries were used exclusively for blending kriek. Unfortunately, the introduction on the market of pasteurised and sweetened industrial lambics marked the beginning of the end of the cultivation of this superb fruit as brewers of fake lambic switched instead to syrups and artificial flavours. Schaerbeek cherries are very delicate, and the harvest is unpredictable at best. On average, we still manage to acquire one or two tonnes per year from local producers, who are now few and far between.
The lambics we select must have enough character, while still retaining a fruity side. It takes two to three months of soaking to make Kriek Lou Pepe, and due to the very limited supply of fruit available production of this superb beer is limited to a few thousand bottles a year.
Beer with character that is balanced and very fruity.
Schaerbeek cherries originate from the Brussels Region, and up until the 1960s these local sour cherries were used exclusively for blending kriek. Unfortunately, the introduction on the market of pasteurised and sweetened industrial lambics marked the beginning of the end of the cultivation of this superb fruit as brewers of fake lambic switched instead to syrups and artificial flavours. Schaerbeek cherries are very delicate, and the harvest is unpredictable at best. On average, we still manage to acquire one or two tonnes per year from local producers, who are now few and far between.
The lambics we select must have enough character, while still retaining a fruity side. It takes two to three months of soaking to make Kriek Lou Pepe, and due to the very limited supply of fruit available production of this superb beer is limited to a few thousand bottles a year.
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8.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Sample at the 2014 Infected Chimipalooza on 11/01/2014. Pours a deep ruby red color with a medium pinkish-white head that evaporates steadily to a film. Short strings of lacing on the glass. Aroma of sour cherries, funky yeast and malt. Light-bodied with a tart cherry character and notes of yeast, doughy malt and berries. The finish is moderately tart with a sour cherry aftertaste. Really good all around.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Nov 2014
at 12:19
8.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9.5
(On tap at Akkurat, Oct 14 2014) Pours a nearly opaque intense deep reddish pink with a moderate pale pink head and no lace. Aroma has a huge whack of cherry, a slight cheesiness, musty moist barnyard sort of character, a little woody but not overpoweringly so, and not too sour. Oh,, did I mention tart cherry? On the palate, another huge whack of tart cherry begins things, light lemony acidity, fading into a moderately bitter, lightly woody and barely musty finish. Dry, lightly tannic feel to the aftertaste with nice lingering fruit tartness. Medium bodied with a little chewiness and effervescent carb. Words don’t describe this. The fruit character, feel and balance is almost off the map of typical kriek, and it is an amazing beer period.
Tried
from Draft
on 26 Oct 2014
at 04:15
7.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
This 2007 vintage bottle pours with a rosy deep red to purple body that supports a white head of foam that has a bit of a pinkish hue. The aroma offers up a modest degree of funk, some fruity candy tartness and cherries. The taste is straight up tartness that gets puckering and biting to midway. Behind the tartness is a nice cherry thing going on. It gets fully tart and puckering into the finish. Do damn tart
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Oct 2014
at 20:34
9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
On tap at Erzbierschof for Zwanze Day 2014. Hazy cherry red with a pink small head. Comolex sour cherry aroma, tartness, barnyard, some feeling of the stone left. Great dry-sour taste, low carbonation, complex finish. Really good stuff, as I expect from Cantillon. 8-4-9-5-17 2013 Bottle at Cantillon, consumed February 2017. Dark blood color with nice pink head. Aroma is fresh cherry skin, almonds, and a distinct funk note as well as some vanilla as it becomes warmer. Taste is citrus, cherry skin, again the almonds, vanilla (only after decanting, though), and a strong, nearly mouth-puckering sourness that is in perfect balance with the fruit. Still, amazing stuff. 9-4-9-5-17.2014 bottle at Cantillon, consumed February 2017. Has a bit more sweetness than the older bottles, but still deep and balanced.2013 Magnum bottle, consumed at the brewery April 2018. Marzipan juice, schaarbeekse flesh & skin. Amazing.2015 bottle, consumed at the brewery April 2018. very almondy, very acidic, but this not vinegar, so I am confident it will age well.
Tried
from Draft
on 20 Sep 2014
at 10:37
8.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9.5
The highly acclaimed kriek in the Lou Pépé series, which is made of only 2 year old lambics and refermented with the help of a sugary lambic solution to feed the yeast - and of which no residual sugars remain in the finished product. Dirty pink head, pearly, crackling but quickly dissolving as often in traditional lambics (and no lambic lover really cares for it anyway), dark cherry red colour, hazy. Amazingly complex lambic aroma, hay, tons of fresh sour cherries, citric and lactic acidity, sulphur, wine vinegar, barnyard but in a completely elegant and ’noble’ way. Fresh fruity taste of the sour cherries beautifully mixed with the lambic esters, tomato, powerful lambic sourness, sharp, appetizing, earthy, woody, sparkling ’champenoise’ mouthfeel, with a very complex, long, oaky, dry finish. One of Cantillon’s great masterpieces, like the other two Lou Pépés.
Tried
from Can
on 04 Sep 2014
at 12:34
9/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
Pours dark pink with low pink head Aromas are intense of bretta, cherries, red fruits Very nice sweet and sour taste from cherries, caramel, wild strawberries Nice and balanced palate ending nicely dry but still lightly sour
Tried
on 03 Aug 2014
at 15:28
7.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Some people with a bottle and a sample for lil ol me: Pours opaque red with loose with head. Aroma is cherries, the funk, hints of vinegar, and wood. Taste is not as sour as I expected, but very tart and tangy. The cherries add very little in the way of sweetness, but compliment the sour aspects. Very pleasant mouthfeel. This was a 2011 bottle by the way.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Jun 2014
at 05:07