Grand Cru Bruocsella Brut - BXLBeerfest V.2022
Brasserie Cantillon in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital Region, Belgium 🇧🇪
Lambic Style - Gueuze Regular Out of Production|
Score
7.76
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle. Color: Clear golden, white head. Aroma: Fruity, funky. Taste: Well balanced mix of fruity unripe grape, green apple and citrus, oak wood, barnyard funk, vinuous / Cognac hints and lactic acidity. Over moderate tartness, some vinegar notes. Medium body, below average carbonation. Dry-ish finish. Needs some time to open up. Nice.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7
750mL bottle at Moeder Lambic Fontainas, pours a clear golden with a small white head. Aroma has some leather, light funk, and moderate acidity. Flavour is on the acidic side, with gentle funk, a touch of leather, and wine-like acidity. I’m actually not fully convinced by this. Good acidity and funk but maybe needs more time?
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
750mL bottle at Moeder Lambic Fontainas. Pours clear blonde with a white head. Lots of musty barnyard funk on the nose, very nice funk character. Flavour doesn't land as well, though it's still very good; more acidity and a less pronounced funk.
Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
750mL bottle shared by Dani and Henri, LC member party, 1/17/25.
Clear, bright golden. Lots of white head.
Beautiful Brett nose. Kind of reminds me of 50N with tons of well-developed funk and fruitiness. Zero acetic, and very low lactic with round oak notes and good maltiness.
Funky and a bit more austere in flavor, but very nicely developed for its relatively young age. More lactic than the nose portends, but still some band aid-like Brett with tons of fruitiness and a fair bit of oak. Stronger lactic acidity bullies the finish a bit.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
75cl bottle as part of the BXL Beerfest 2022 pack. F: thin, white, quick gone. C: deep gold, light hazy. A: lemon, rhubarb, gooseberries, woody, cognac, grapes, apples. T: sour fruity, rhubarb, lemon, gooseberries, lactic touch, cognac, apples, woody, peach, soft carbonation, decent bitterness from old hops, honey touch, very nice, fully enjoyed.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 7.5
Cantillon decided to bottle unblended lambic and name it Bruocsella Grand Cru already in the eighties and was the first to do so – lambic in unblended form so far had only existed from tap. For the BXL Beerfest, a special ‘Brut’ edition was created in which a bit of young lambic was added – effectively creating something in between unblended lambic and geuze, as this infusion of young lambic obviously sparks a refermentation in the bottle. This 2022 edition, also made exclusively for BXL Beerfest, follows that same principle, but differs from the first Bruocsella Grand Cru Brut in that not two, but three lambics went into the blend, the oldest of which (3 years) spent time in a barrel that previously held cognac – in other words, this 2022 edition is effectively an intermediate between the original Bruocsella Grand Cru Brut and the cognac versions of 50°N-4°E. Now that this is cleared out, on to the bottle! Egg-white, moussy, regularly shaped, stable head; initially clear, warm orange-tinged peach-golden robe, misty with sediment. Aroma of ripe green gooseberries and even some gooseberry jam, wrinkled old apples, stewed rhubarb, wet wood, medium dry sherry but also some sherry vinegar, grape skin, old leather, hay, sweet cognac indeed peeping through quite clearly, even hints of peach and sweet grape. Tart onset with lemony edge but altogether quite ‘mals’ and soft, very fruity, green apple and rhubarb mixed with gooseberry and green grape, even yellow plum; very softly tingling effervescence (clearly softer than would be the case in a typical geuze), soft and vinous body. Mild yoghurty tartness with continuing ‘yellow fruit’ esters cover a bready core while, oddly in this context, a sweet aspect appears, again reminiscent of gooseberry jam or ripe peach, likely coming from the cognac. Drying woody tannins too but not harshly so, along with sherry-like retronasal elements and a late and very brief whiff of ‘old hop bitterness’. Lots of sweet-sour ‘yellow’ fruitiness lingers, grape, stewed rhubarb, apple, peach and gooseberry all in the mix – with, all things considered, a soft and gentle finish for a Cantillon lambic. The cognac element, though indirect, very clearly adds a sweetness and vinosity here, more so even than in the 50°N-4°E bottlings I remember; this sweet aspect sets this 2022 apart from the earlier Bruocsella Grand Cru Brut, in which the lambic speaks for itself without this ‘extra’ element. I still prefer the original version, I think, but this one too is a testimony of Cantillon’s superior skills and consistent high quality. No doubt this version will soon turn into a white whale as well, given the fact that it is Cantillon, and that BXL Beerfest recently decided to discontinue these beer packs accompanying it – in other words, this ‘cognac’ version will remain a one-off… Curious to see what this will do to the prices of second-hand bottles in the coming years. If that whole lambic hype does not lose its momentum by that time, of course…
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
From bottle at Moeder tasting at Ammutson. Golden body. Beautiful aroma of rustic funk, some apple, some citrus, moderate cognac, wood. Tastes similar, with a bit more cognac barrel. Medium mouthfeel, with a moderate carboantion. Finishes dry, wooden, citric, moderate funky, with some cognac barrel. Delicious! Quite similar to a 50°N-4°E, with the cognac quite prominent. My highlight is the beautiful, rustic funk though. Very elegant, complex stuff! Score: 9 / 4 / 9 / 4 / 17
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
Taster from 0,75l bottle at Ammutson during Moeder tasting. yellow hazy color, small white head. smells funky, stone fruits, earthy, grassy, light lactic. Very nice smell full body, soft carbonation. tastes peppery, grassy, lactic, earthy, herbal, tobacco, light liqueur. finishes lightly dry and lightly sour with notes of peppery, earthy and light lactic notes. Rather bunchy, good, bit young
8, 8, 7.5, 7, 7.5
Rerate 03.09.2023: 0,07l taster from 0,75l bottle at Moeder Lambic Original tasting. Vintage . Yellow hazy color, small white head. Smells dusty, bit glueish, tad vinegary/lactic. Ok smell. Full body, soft carbonation. Tastes grassy, glueish, peppery, lactic, earthy. Finishes dry and medium sour with notes of glue, lactic and vinegar notes. Not that great
8, 6, 6, 6, 6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9.5
750ml Bottle. Bright yellow pour with a white head. Barnyard bouquet. Bright, crisp, and clean with wonderful mellow barnyard, lemon zest, and citrus notes. Great body and mouthfeel.
