Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru

Wow! Totally tart up front, like a mix between granny smith and pickle, with a long, gratifying wood-leather aftertaste. Strange, and not totally fruity, but certainly awesome.

Wow. Never had anything like this before. Had at Max’s on Broadway in Baltimore during the Belgain Beer Festival. It looks like any other pilsner or pale lager, light and golden. Lots of carbination. Smells of gasoline and sour lemon. Tastes the same. Reminds me of Lock Jaw candies we ate as kids. Very sour. Surprisingly it doesn’t have an offensive aftertaste. The initial blast of sour lemon is pretty much all you get. Great to share amongst friends but not recommended for a night of drinking.

Tap, Max’s 72 hours. Light amber body with no head. Lambic aromas, barnyard funk, lacto-sourness, lemons, pineapple, pears and apple.The flavor is immediately sour and dry, lemons, green apples. I had this side by side with the Gueuze and this was a touch drier and slightly more sour. The mouthfeel is light, refreshing.

(03 Jan 06) 2001 vintage. Pours a deep yellow-gold, misty, with no carbonation or head. Lemon aroma with plenty of vinegar along with some salt and iron. The body is complex with an alkaline softness. It tastes like an unripe plum and features lemon in the body and the long drying finish.

750 ML bottle: Light amber w/ a thin white head, not lasting, maybe due to a dirty glass or the fact there was no pop from the cork. Sour and horse blanket aroma with all the barn yard that goes with it. Very classic lambic aroma! herbal hops, and a bit acetic. Also leathery and cork woody aromas w/a bit of oaky wood. Sour acidic flavor throughout, but not as sour as I’d imagined. Woody and fruity as well with grainy malt. Also has an earthy flavor in the dry finish and aftertaste. Very low carbonation, med. body, and smooth. A good lambic, but I’m not a fan of the style. A bit too sour for my tastes, but as I stated, it’s not an overwhelming sourness. Good for what it is, but it’s not for me.

Sometimes, when Belgians disappoint, we don’t like to admit it. But, then maybe the the expectations are just too darn high. Mine for this beer were sky high, I was then disappointed, then when I sat back and thought, I realized it was still a good beer. Very, very soft with soft oak and soft grapefruit. This Belgian was still. But overall, it had a very good flavor with very light sour notes. For a Grand Cru aged 3 years in oak..... I would rather have bought a Rodenbach for 5 bucks cheaper.

Draught @ The Moan & Dove, as well as bottled: Pours a golden onion skinned liquor hue. Great stinky funk nose, band-aid, ribber band, horse blanket, sour funk yo. We need the funk, gotta have the funk. This is near perfection as far as I am concerned. This is lambic what it is all about. Draught version is also quite delicous. Is there anything better than Cantillon?

Bottle. The recent availability of Rodenbach Grand Cru has opened me to try other Belgian GCs. This had great promise to me from the info card at the store and the advise of the beer guy there. It poured fairly clear and with little head for a belgian, but so did the Rodenbach, maybe this is with the GC style. The color was a soft peach and the aroma was very good, although I am not sure how to accurately describe it, there is something different, something special about the aroma of Belgians. But, the flavor , while good, tart and twangy, was lacking a little. It was like it had good flavor but not enough of it. The flavor was too recessed, too subtle. I understand that they can’t all be as in your face as the Rodenbach, but this was a little too far the other way.