26/07/2016 - draught @ Moeder Lambic Fontainas, Brussels. Clear at the bottom, hazy above orange with nice white head. Nose is flowers, sour, fruity, citrus. Tase is grains, flowers, gently sour, faint burn, yoghurt. This is absolulately stunning. Could one rate this below 4? I’ll go for a 4.9 because I hope there’s still a better Cantillon out there but it’s definetly worth a 5.

Bouteille 750ml, 2012, au Québec Ratebeer Gathering. Couleur jaune dorée trouble, mousse blanche. Arôme floral, un peu funky, champignon, boisé, fermier. Goût de levures sauvages, floral, acidité moyenne, un peu fruité. Carbonatation moyenne, corps moyen.

Bottle, 2011, drunk 2/5/16. Huge thanks to James for opening this!
Lightly murky, drab copper with some brighter hay tones throughout. Huge white head, even decanting the beer, that slowly fades to cover.
Unmistakable elderflower in the nose combines with perfumey brett notes, tons of basement/cellar character and a light touch of wood. It’s bright, pervasive and true to Cantillon’s fruit lambics, very fruit-forward (in this case flower-forward). Elderflower, being quite powerfully aromatic, seems to find a good match in the ripe and earthy funk that Cantillon lambics bring to the table and it’s incredibly unique smelling the interplay of both.
Delightful carbonation, tight and natural as always, helps spread this magnificently flavorful elderflower all over the palate, while lactic and brett acids somewhat match the intensity providing their own funky punch. At 5 years of age, this is still very vibrant and strong and I’d be very hard-pressed to imagine this being optimal to drink when brand new. The elderflower is a very strong flavor component that easily (and has almost always) turns things astringent when not carefully controlled. While it is here done very well, there are still some touches of bland nuttiness, soap/oil and light astringency that are inevitable from its use. Wood/oak and mature barnyard flavors abound behind the elderflower and the beer is an absolute joy to drink. Experimental and fun, yet well-executed.

Bottle at RBWG. It pours a hazy yellow color. The aroma has some foresty herbals and flowers. A little earthy with a hint of acid. The flavor is earthy with some notes of sage and herbs. Nice soft funk and barrel notes. Typical Cantillon acidity. Very different from their other lambics. I liked it a lot.

Glass at Fontainas. Hazy golden with white head. Massive floral and cow parsley juicey roadside floral and grassy notes. Light nutty and fruity. Big bectar and light honey. Grapes, apricot. Moderate sour and bitter, light sweetness. Medium body and soft carbonation. // Old: Super lekker! Witte druiven, vlierbloesem, zuur, erg bloemig. Enorme smaakbeleving voor relatief laag ABV. Backlog from 2015/03/29.

Hosting a Belgian introduction tasting @ work.