The second embodiment of this legendary "royal geuze", originally made for the Koningsfeesten in 1991, celebrating the Belgian king Baudouin's sixtieth birtday as well as the fortieth birthday of his kingship back then. Made with port barrel aged lambic, only three batches were made originally, but this second one was announced in March 2016 and served from draft last Tuesday during Cantillon's Quintessence event; finished bottles of this will probably avail in the course of 2019 (and will undoubtedly cause an immense rush of people wanting to get their hands on it no matter how - but this is not the place to complain about that whole Cantillon hype which still seems to be only increasing). Loose and bubbly, off-white, quickly dissolving head over a hazy, warm 'old gold' coloured beer. Aroma of damp barnyard, pear juice, vanilla-ish wet oak, gooseberries, lemon rind, old sweat, artisanal cider, moist hay and indeed a whiff of (white rather than red) port wine far away in the background. Sour and lemony in the onset but not overly acidic, gooseberry and fermenting pear notes, some unripe stonefruit and green berry wryness lingering; bready and wheaty underground with ongoing lambic fruitiness and tartness, funky ending with damp hay and wet leather aspects, lingering wry fruit peel impression and tannic woodiness, drying and quenching. Port remains a faraway background echo, and I would expect it to become even more buried under lambic funkiness when this gets bottled and further matured. Never had the original one so I am unable to compare, but this by itself is a fantastic Cantillon geuze without a doubt, even if somehow less expressive and less 'different' than several of their other special editions.

Quintessence. Clearish golden color. Lightly vinous aroma with dust. Taste has soft funk, more vinous notes. Tasty.

Sampled. Golden apple juice lambiek. Nose is sweaty very aromatic old lambiek, flowers, sweet wine, leather, citrus, oak, more wine, almost cider touch. Old oily lambiek, oak, flowers, swety, very round, massively oily white grape, lemon, lingering ancient oak, barnyard, vineous oak, aftertaste is really good, high quality, lingering oak, vinous finish.

Tap. Hazy golden color with no head. Aroma is young stinky, port, goatcheese. Taste is citric, all the leather Cantillon funk, hay, cheesy, still a bit sweet, port. Oily mouthfeel, flat. Young and out of the gate excellent, this is just ridiculous. I love it!

Draft at Quintessence.clear golden with a few off white bubbles. Aroma of barnyard, malt, rusty notes, caramel, citrus and leathery notes. Flavour is moderate sweet and sour. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Tap at Quitessence. Almost clear golden with some bubbles. Funk, hay, light wood, soft oxidized notes, light brandy, caramel, lemon, vanilla, gooseberries. Medium sour and light bitter, almost no sweetness. Medium bodied, flat.

01-05-18 // taster at Cantillon Quintessence 2018. Clear golden. No carbo. Dry younger fizzy lambic. Mild wood. Drinking nice.