Cantillon Cuvée des Champions

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Brussels, Belgium

RBESG 2005, Pale yellow colour with a small white head. Tart fruity aroma with a yeasty touch. Malty flavor with a light sourness and a spicy note.

Bottle. Sharp clean geuze nose. Nothing detracting from a pure clean full blown geuze experience. Very clean and nice.

Aug, 2005. GBBF Not my thing. There’s a soft warm straw aroma which is pleasant. The texture, however, I found very sharp. There’s an agressive dry tone to this that is not suited to my palate. I found this undrinkable. [2.0]
Feb, 2005
The Kilburn Gathering. Eggy fart. Dry, slightly puckering but quite warm and soft and wood pulpy. [2.6]

(on bottle, labeld as "Cuvee des Champions" but verified by Jeppe)Light orange colour, witg a fresh, small bobblyhead. A marvelous aroma. vanilla, orangepeel and yoghurt are the dominant, besides a good level of all the phenolicstuff.very high carbonated mouthfeel and a bit of a disapointing, thin flavour. Medium acidic and a bit of oxidation in the finish.

Couleur ambrée aux reflets orange pale. Faible mousse blanche tachetée et rapidement diminuante. Arômes sauvages, boisés, terreux. Très douce en bouche, moyennement sauvage et faiblement tartrique (peu en comparaison à leur gueuze). Tout de même, citronnée, fromage bleu, caveau et boisé humide sous une présence de sucre facilement identifiable. L’amertume et la verdure des houblons en finale viennent aussi nous surprendre. Corps d’épaisseur semi mince, douce carbonatation. Se boit dangereusement bien. Bouteille, Half Time, N.Y, Septembre 2005.

Également consommé sous le nom de Cuvée du 89 chez Bier Circus. Houblonnage a froid bien évident (plus que dans la cuvée des champions ?), frais, résineux et très vert. Intéressant de voir que la brasserie expérimente avec différentes variétés de houblons, de plus en plus haut en teneur d’acide alpha, pour l’iris.

2004 bottling, Sampled September 2005
Pours a hazy straw-orange color with a hint of ruby-grapefruit colored notes. The carbonation seems quite low, as the cork did not pop at all when pulled, it is carbonated though, but the head is wispy and a frothy pale color. Ah, the aroma; a suitable funky smell greet my nostrils as I take my first draught of the nose. The aroma is a mix of citrus, funky notes of mushroom, perhaps some notes of farmhouse cheese, and musty earth. The Brett character is quite pronounced, and the aroma just keeps the senses piqued for continued sniffing pleasure.

The beer is of course shockingly tart in the first sip, after that is through it becomes pleasingly tart with a bracing note of acidity. The beer is quite light, and has just enough carbonation to enhance the spritzy refreshing character. I do think that there is a bit of grassy herbal character here too from the dry hopping in the cask. This has a nice note of tart grapefruit, and is not nearly as funky in the taste as the nose suggests. There is a light note of funky cheese in the finish that seems to linger a bit in an astringent manner after the beer has been swallowed.

As this beer warms up it really begins to soften a bit, open up, and become quite a bit more fruity with lots of grapefruit and lemon notes. This is definitely quite enjoyable, and I definitely do not enjoy Lambics enough, it is definitely a special occasion type beer for me, and I would much prefer that it was an everyday beer for me.

<font size=-4>Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson, AZ<font size=-1>

Poured a dark and slightly hazy orange. The aroma is initially vinegar and horseblanket. There are also oranges and leather. A nice musty aroma. The taste is sour vinegar and lemons at first. There is also some leather and flowers. After a little warming it mellows to apples and vinegar. A nice crisp and dry finish. You know this bad boy is a Canitllon. I have had this a couple times, nicely done, but a little one dimensional.

Apricot, light barnyard and rubbery phenolics greet the nose. Opaque yellow-gold with low, fizzy, white head that diminishes to slight ring. Apricot fruitiness with assertive bitterness that is surprising. Fair phenolic lambic character - rubbery, barnyard and cobweb flavours. Medium body with a texture that coats the teeth. Moderate carbonation but somehow it feels still in the mouth. Sampled at GBBF 2005 and then again at RBESG 2005!!!
Earlier Rating: 4/19/2005 Total Score: 3.8
Phenolics are mild in the nose (mmm leather and sweat!) with lightly tart fruity notes and some floral, herbaceous hops that feel like they are just visiting. Opaque orange-tan and fairly still with a shy white head that diminishes immediately and fully. Fair phenolics in the flavour offer up horseblanket, sweat, leather, salt and cheese and complement the lightly sour, tart, dry fruitiness. Medium body with low carbonation that seems to work well for this beer. Bottle enjoyed with beerbuzzmontreal, ClarkVV, MartinT, muzzlehatch, olivier, Rastacouere and Simon.