Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium

Bottled sample, 2001 vintage. Medium gold in colour with zero carbonation. Aromas of citrus infused funk, old wood, a bit of earth, and a hint of pale malt. More funky and dry than sour in the mouth, with increasing earth and somewhat cheese like flavors. Some citrus and wood remain. Enjoyable, but not my favorite Cantillon product.

750 cl. from 2001. Pours a golden hazyness like an ecological apple-cider with only a tiny head around the edge. The nose is fresh and fine with hiuntsa of citrus and pinecones, almonds and alcohol. The taste is all sour without any really complexiness. Sweet grapefruits isall im thinking of. The finish is sweetand sour and fading away smoothly.

750 ml at the brewery. Sorry, the museum. You need to like lambics to like this one. Head was limited to 3 bubbles. Musty nose with citrus. Medium body, acidic and sour. Grows on you. And maybe in you.

I didn’t ’get’ Cantillon until I got this. 750ml 2006 vintage uncorked by priapic cherub. Burnished gold with faint mist. You don’t need me to tell you it’s as fizzless as apple juice, but that it’s as solidly bodied is a surprise. Complex sweet aromas of honey, lemon, lime, apple juice, glowing fireside single malt mellowed in oak for…a couple of decades. Nothing especially barnyardy or acetic. Dustily clean, cleanly dusty. Some kind of antiseptic dentist’s waiting room note. Almost apple bubblegum fruitiness, considering. Overwhelmingly honey. That this is conjured from the use of water, wheat, barley, dried hops, oak, and (not so) randomly floating wild yeast is a miracle of brewing in itself. Brewers of foul allegedly honeyed confections take note. Piques with acidity, but isn’t ferocious. None of the heartburn tartness I was expecting. Not until the third glass, anyway. The years in wood and glass seems to have restored some of the mellow woodsy apple and lemon notes you might find in an unspicy dry witbier. Wheat and mildly puckering apple all the way. Honey and oak leaping out. Occasional swig of Brie creaminess, vanilla, peat. The mellowest, most complex, most delicious unblended lambic I’ve tasted. Could savour it geekishly or glug it by the pint. Astonishing and unprecedented. (4am election night toast in honour of Obama.)

Bottle. Pours a golden yellow color that is slightly hazy. Smells slightly sour with a nice fruit and earth smell. Tastes similar with sourness first and then sweet. Very mild carbonation.

1999 Vintage from Bier Circus in Brussels. Color is golden yellow with subtle shades of brown. Aroma is sour but dry, with an earthiness and a slight burnt aroma. Mild carbonation. First taste is overwhelmingly sour, with some tart mixed in, and musty on the finish, with a lingering mustiness not like other lambics I’ve had. Perhaps the bottle was past its prime?

2007 bottle. Pours a tepid golden amber, no head but a few bubbles in ring, dull body. Pretty unappealing. Sour nose of must and sweat, slight cheese, and faint lemon. Tart flavor is musty lemon, a little earth, and a nice grape sweetness as a balance. With warmth additional flavors unfold for a tart and biting yet sweet and refreshing combination. Mouth is dry and thin, a little watery, and short-lived, the grape lasting longest. Very nice beer, but too weak in certain areas to warrant undying affection.

(bottle, vintage 2003, thanks JK!) Pours a still, cloudy gold. Aroma contains a lot of cut grass, oak, yeast, and salty, funky cheese. The taste is lightly sour, with some funky cheese, lemon, but becomes far more salty towards the finish which I did not really care for.