Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium

Hazy lemony color, a trace of fizzy soda head. Lots of wood and eartyh muskiness. Lots of grassy barnyard aromas. This is a true lambic.

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.)

On cask it is just called "Cantillon Lambic". My reaction to seeing this cask at GBBF was utter delight. These are the experiences to live for. Duff and I were not at all disappointed with our high expectations. Hazy, amber with touches of brown, large bubbles for a slightly ring of head. Buttery, cider aroma, cheesy, musty, with increasing depth. Very compelling. A sour hit of flavor and then a quick finish except a lingering touch of cheese. Flat body but no problem--smooth and just so juicy. Acidic. It triggered massive salivation. Gosh, it was just so much fun to drink. If I hadn't been at one of the world's great beer festivals I would have just kept going back for pint after pint of this. (gravity pour at GBBF 2003)

2005 vintage; Nose of tartness, barnyard; Gold color with little or no carbonation; less body and not as sour as the Iris we had last week; flavor shows the acidic side of things with some small apricot like notes.

Distinct Cantillon lambic. The unblended lambic is tantalizingly tart. Not the most satisfying or compelling lambic but delicious nonetheless and fun to drink, too.

750ml Bottle (2007 Vintage): Aroma of tart fruit, slight funk, oak, slight Brett, and sour acid. Poured amber/orange in color with no head at all. Lightly cloudy. Not sparkling. Full of tiny particles throughout. Flavor is lightly sweet and light to moderate tart. Tastes of oak, tart fruit, slight Brett, wood, and slight barnyard. Light to medium body. Thin texture. Soft carbonation. Lightly tart, oak finish.

Pours a flat, cloudy golden color - musty and almost "musky" aroma, along with white wine, wheat, aged cheese - the three years in oak have given an extreme woody flavor to the beer - light bodied - only moderate sourness - wheat flavors, white grapes - funky, cheese-like brett flavors near the finish - oak remains throughout - a little thin, but interesting.

The aroma is wild and funky with cheese and vinegar. The appearance is orange gold with no head but a small trace of carbonation. The flavor is like the aroma and is quite sour/tart. The palate is like water and the finish is dry. I just wanted to try the style but I don’t like it.