Draught at Ølbutikken, Copenhagen
Hazy red-amber color, bright; with pink head. Wonderful aroma; initially it’s peppery, very powerful, then the pepper fades a bit and a more usual smell of cellar and cobwebs; later the fruit joins too; finally, only sweat and cellar aroma. Dry mouthfeel, very sour, with a clear wine flavor too; the pepper note is very elegant and pleasant; the acidity is less aggressive than in other Lambics from Cantillon; also the final astringency is mild; in the end there is a vague cheesy touch.
Fantastic refreshing Lambic.

A later glass was digging at the bottom of the shaken keg, it pours a murky red-brownish color, with pinkish head; the aroma doesn’t change, but the mouthfeel is rounder, almost sweeter.

Bottle at the brewery, shared with Paul and James during Paul’s Pre-Wedding Beer Weekend. Pours clear, muted red with a fluffy, white head. Big peppery aroma. Light sweet flavor, lots of pepper and spice, some fruit, restrained sourness, and light perfume-like floral notes. Light bodied with fine carbonation. Lightly dry finish with some subtle fruit, spicy pepper, understated tartness. A very interesting lambic with all the pepper notes. Really nice.

As an aside, while slowly working our way through our beers we realized we had about five minutes to get to our train at the nearby station. My two companions, lightweights that they are, couldn’t manage to slam the rest of their beers quickly so opted instead to leave some unfinished (it was before noon). I wouldn’t stand for this, you’ll be happy to hear, and downed the remaining Zwanze in two brief flourishes. We then scuttled off to the train, which we made it to on time.

draft @ Ølbutikken, Copenhagen. Pours a slightly hazy ruby reddish color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity sour funky woody aroma. Sour tart funky woody dry grape flavor with hints of apple. Has a fruity sour tart oaky dry grape finish.

draft – 2011 Zwanze Day@Chez Moeder Lambic: poured after Jean van Roy’s speech during which he alternated between French, Dutch & English – the keg lasted for a spectacular 8 minutes, colour is a hazy/murky pale amber/red with a pink head sour tart with some light sour lemons, tart red grapes, sweet grapes, sourness mixed with sweet fruits, rhubarb, yeast, hint of soapiness, slight acidic aftertaste, light barnyard & pepper, dry finish, the taste of young Cantillon lambic is featured actually quite predominantly in this, not one of the most complex Cantillon’s but ironically probably most drinkable, amazing because it is so easy & wonderfully balanced or maybe it is just the rarity & the experience that I taste //// Bottled on 23/12/2010 – making it +/- 10 months old when consumed – 75 cl. bottle split by 3 @ brewery during open door day – Jean van Roy stated that he favours this beer right now strongly over the version which was released on zwanze day citing that it was to young for his taste back then – bottle carries cheap, homemade-looking (most likely it is) label which is just name & basic information on a white background, haven’t seen many rare Cantillon’s so far but while holding one is a near mthical experience, don’t think that they appear particularly fancy to those who don’t know what they are – pours a bright, hazy ruby amber with a red hue & small lambic head – very strong taste of sour grape skins, lots of them, wine drenched sour, wine-barrel wood, almost harshly tart, touch glühwine spices, bitter upfront, no lemon or acidity here, clear hops in the aftertaste, the grapes & barrel are very strong in this one, the zwanze day version was light, balanced & easy to drink, now it is a completely different beast, harsher, the taste runs deep here, very tart, sour, lots of grape skins here, same as the previous one but here is less fruity, here it is really grapeskins, the touch pepper in the finish is gone here – complexer, hard to say which one I like more, I did kind of like how extremely easy going the zwanze day version was so I will probably go with that one but this is a treat as well – either way this has evolved extremely different – dry, sourness coats the mouth