Open the door of the 56 rue Gheude. Cantillon ? That’s the time machine. You’ll leave the modern civilization, goodbye to the noise, goodbye to the world.
"But where are we ?", you will ask yourself. Well, you are in a family brewery where Lambic, Gueuze, Faro and Kriek are made and where nothing has changed since 1900 when it was founded. The Van Roy-Cantillon family welcomes you and invites you to discover a fabulous world. Beers, tools and brewing process are still the same as in the beginning.
Red copper containers, barrels, some of them more than 100 years old, and walls of bottles constitute the scenery for your visit.
Maybe you’ll be lucky to see the brewing or the bottling, maybe you ’ll see how barrels are cleaned or how fruit beers are made in summer. Maybe you’ll be lucky to see the brewing or the bottling, maybe you ’ll see how barrels are cleaned or how fruit beers are made in summer. Anyway, you’ll be able to taste a real traditional Gueuze-Lambic and if you would like to know more about the Kriek or the Framboise, just ask the brewer.
6 oz draft at Brouwers Cafe Sour Fest in Seattle, Washington. Pour is hazy orange golden with not much off white head. Aroma of musty sour yeastiness, some citrus fruit - apple and pear. Taste of bright sourness, grapefruit, musty earthy yeastiness. Nicely bright and refreshing. Finish is bone dry, very champagne like. Beautiful sour.
(Poured from jug at the brewery on 2008-03-22) Orange colour. Hazy. Sweet nose. Sugary taste lacking almost completly the normal lambic sourness. But some sourness remains. Good.
37.5 cL bottle at Ølbaren. Pours hazy red with a creamy off-white head. Aroma raspberry fruity and dry. Flavour is dry raspberry fruity with a light dry wooden note. Dry acidic to citric finish. Classic Cantillon dryness yet delicate fruity touch all the way through.
2007 bottle, 5%. Beautiful, sour aroma, a little mold and berry. Hazy deep red colour. Small pink, almost bright red head. Good sour flavour, a little vinegar, but rounded off by the berries. Swelling mouthfeel. Berry aftertaste.
(Bottle at Hilpeä Hauki on 2008-02-15) Golden colour. Very tiny head. Very sour nose with some acidity. Sour and at the same time fruity taste. Sourness is like stomach acids. Some even vomit-like flavours.
750ml bottle@Vero Beach Throwdown-pours a white head that bubbles and hazy yellow/gold color. Aroma is musty yeast, leather, vinegar. Taste is apple cider, musty yeast, leather, vinegar, some tartness. Occasional. Thanks hopscotch for sharing.
2006 bottle from Hopduvel, Gent. Murky, opaque gold colour with no head yet plenty of carbonation. Musty, almost vinegary aroma of mushrooms, dried apricots and orange peel. Flavour was very astringent, with some more fruit, yeast and a very dry, sour finish. Not my favourite Cantillon beer by a long way.
Bottle from Hopduvel, Gent. Pale amber in colour with a moderate, tight head and decent carbonation. Dusty, musty lambic aroma with some lemon, floral hops and yeast. Full mouth feel, with flavours of orange peel, the barnyard and tart fruit. Plenty of grassy hops leading to a long, bitter finish. Excellent.