8.5

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9

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.

9

Backlog

9

orange gold, white head: eldwerflower, funk, oak, lemon. 4.5

8.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8

Bottle pour at ACBF2017/Gainsbar, 2011 Vintage. Pours cloudy golden, small white head. Cellar, fruity, funk, sour, wood, smooth. Perfumish aroma. Moderate+ acidity, dry finsh. Average to high carbonation. Very good, but definitely not my favorite from Cantillon.