Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium

Courtesy of Pailhead. Light golden in color with no head. Very nice musty/sour aroma. Initial flavor is all sour lemon-esque, little vinegar through the middle, but fades to nothing quickly. A little thin. Underpar for these guys.

(Bottle) Pours a bit hazy orange. No head. Woody, sour aroma with sour gooseberries notes of peach. A bit smokey . Green apples. The flavor is sour but mild. Some sweetness. Dry. Unripe berries and lemon. Fresh pleasant aftertaste.

Bottle split with Muenster during my Great Lakes region brew tour. Well, I made a stupid mistake and poured this cold, yes, I am an idiot. That was not good. After allowing it to come up in temperature, this brew was much more pleasing. This has an apple juice color with no head whatsoever or any effervensence either. The aroma is very sour and exotic. There are hints of grass, buttermilk, wild flowers. It’s very puckering in the mouth with notes of wool cloth, green apples, soft grapes, suggestions of Scotch. After I had adjusted to the brutal sourness, this began to grow on me. However, I certainly won’t be running down the streets singing the praises of Cantillon’s unblended Lambic.

Sample from a friend at Pizza Port bottle shop; Drank with Shawn and others. $15. A real treat. Low to no carbonation. I was reading this is the nature of a true lambic, as the aging and use of Brett yeasts super attenuate the beer, leaving no sugar. It is bottled this way. for Gueze, additional lambic is added with higher residual sugar, which ferments in the bottle to carbonate the Gueuze. Thus lambics: uncarbonated, and gueuzes are carbonated. Looks terrible: very light yellow and flat. I was surprized to find the lambic to have little sourness. Possibly the souring yeasts were added late, or just provided by the barrel/air after sacc yeasts ate most of the sugar. Very very easy to drink.

Bottle. Thanks to Slob and Solan for sending me a bottle. Pours a cloudy golden body with no head. Aroma is of citrus and light barnyard. Flavor is lightly sour - barnyard. Small amount of citrus, a little oak presence. Full bodied, a little syrupy. This is one calming beer. I really enjoyed this.

Bottled, 0.7 liter. Bottle says 2001, cork says 2003. Hazy golden/orange coloured, no head. Very fruity nose, apple, citrus and some more. Sour and tart flavour, not as complex as i thought it would be. Actually a bit disappointing if you ask me.

Bonus bottle from Mgumby10. What a bonus, thanks Mike! Been a while since I’ve had this one and I wish I had more. Pours a deep golden color with absolutely no head. Hardly any carbonation either. Nose is barnyard, oak, lemons. Flavor is incredibly smooth for a lambic but at the same time very sour, acidic, and damn tasty. I drank this faster than any lambic I’ve had in the past. I wish this was still locally available to me. Paired great with Stroopie cookies from Holland.

2006, bottled in 2009 courtesy of ogivlado who brought it from Belgium and shared with me.
Poured a quite hazy orange-golden body with a tiny white head that went away immdediately. Subdued funky tart aroma, some sweet maltiness. The mouthfeel is remarkably soft at the beginning and cushions the acidic assault that comes just a little later, funky, ends spicy/peppery. I liked it, not the best Lambic I’ve had but certainly interesting.