Cantillon Bruocsella 1900 Grand Cru

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium

Orange color, small head, grassy aroma, sour, still nice.

I was not as impressed with this as I was expecting to be. It was not as tart and complex as other lambics, even the regular Cantillon. It may have had a bad cork. When I pulled the bottle cap off that was over the cork, I could see beer bubbling out from around the cork. But I am not sure if this would affect it, as it also had the bottle cap sealing it. And it had lots of carbonation and a good head. Anyway, how the heck do you tell if a lambic is bad???

I was shocked I liked this, because I wasn’t a true lambic fan. But man was this nice. Forget where I got the bottle, but it was bottled Jan 07 and I had it July 08 (it was the Organic). Pours even with no head or carbonation - the best color I have yet seen in a sour, lambic or geuze. Brilliant flavor that is deep and not tart (I think the lack of carb. helps a lot to trim the edge off the flavor): mustard, unripe peach, green grape peels, very slight wood, and lemon peel. Only had a couple ounces, but I was impressed and will find this one again.

This is my first "pure" (unblended) lambic, but I’ll do my best here as I’ve recently taken an interest in this style. This beer pours a dark yellow...and I don’t mean this in a bad way, but it looks a chardonnay that is seriously past its prime. Aroma is pure sour, with very little fruit aroma. Taste is significantly sour, with a mellow chardonnay grape flavor. It is very tasty, and I prefer the 3-year-old mellowness of this beer to the geuze that I had before it. This beer’s mouthfeel is very wine-like. The beer has very little carbonation. This near-flatness makes it a rather big in your mouth, much like a wine. Very interesting, and recommended.

Very pretty glowing orange color with a small white head. The aroma has become my new definition of sour...very sour lemon, apricot, hay, general barnyard, dirty animal fur. The flavor was very sour, tart, vinegar-like, lemon. Nice bubbly feel...tickles the tongue. Unusual, interesting, but in my opinion, not great.

Shared a 75cl from Dranken Geers with Mes and Sim a little while back but this rate’s straight from a 37.5cl I picked up in Italy of all places. Ended the night before my trip with a bottle of Lou Pepe Geueze and proceeded to have no access to decent beer for a whole week. I managed to escape my overprotective relatives for a 2 hour walk and found a beer shop, I was so excited to see a lambic I just had to buy it. Pours a hazy gold with a thin whispy white head that takes some encouragement to form. Lovely aroma, I almost loved it more than the taste, a Blåbær moment indeed. Viinous and sour, with apricot, lemon, yeast, straw, vinegar and a subtle woody note. Flavour is much the same, quite soft and dry with a salty tartness in the back of your throat. Great stuff, well worth the prison break!

I was able to sample this on tap at Max’s Taphouse in Baltimore during Max’s Belgian fest. Pours a hazy yellow orange with no head. Smells both sweet and tart, slightly grassy, some slight funk. Flavor is grassy, tart, sweet, a touch of that Belgian barnyard funk and some white grapes. High carbonation in the mouth but also slightly chalky with a lasting tartness. I very much enjoyed this, probably the best of the day.

Disappointed by this. Perhaps it was just the stillness, but it reminded me too much of a dry white wine (of which I am not a fan). But interesting nonetheless.
Amber, very still. Sour nose with sweet hints, white wine, grapes, green grass, hay. Very vinous, Chardonnay flavor, relatively dry. Some sweet notes, a touch of oak. Quite sour, with bitter hints.