Cantillon Cuvée des Champions

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Brussels, Belgium

Bottled in 2008, brewed in 2005: Pours a slightly hazy straw with 1 finger of head that dissipates rather qucikly but lingers on the sides of the glass. Aroma is wonderfully complex apple cider vinager, tropical fruit, cellar character, and Cantillon funk, (once you’ve walked in the brewery its unforgetable). As you get to the middle of the glass the aroma because more and intensly gueuze, lots of leather and cellar character. flavor is just as complex, apples, citrus and specifically lemon. leather as you draw to the finish as well as mustiness with some funk and horst blanket. Nice presense of dryhopping as well. the floral spiciness of styrians fits in well with the sour flavor on the back of the tongue. lean bodied with excellent cabonation. I love this beer, one of the best I’ve ever had.

On handpump at Bruxellensis beer festival, 9/10/06. How I ended up here, I can’t even describe., let’s just say Jan at Cantillon goes above and beyond. So anyway... poured in my brandy new Bruxellensis tasting glass by someone who speaks English (yay says my ignorant, non French speaking self) and tells me this is a dry hopped Gueuze. I shudder with delight! Big huge earthy hoppy aroma that disintegrates into typical Cantillon funkiness. First taste brings upon an onslaught of green leafy bitterness that holds off the barnyard for a few seconds only to succumb to the sour side. So complex, so delightful. Sitting in the sun at a beer festival somewhere just south of Brussels, drinking this nectar and about to embark on a 6 day beer tour. I wanna go back.

750ml bottle at Novare Res. Could it be, my new favorite beer?! This is friggen amazing stuff. The dry hopping gives it a nice hoppy aroma in the glass in addition to the aged hops, and wild yeasts its a wonderful nose. The flavor is heavenly, sour, sweet, and tangy. This is a perfectly put together beer, a bottle I’ll never ever forget.

On tap at Brasserie Beck. ($14 a glass...envious of the folks getting it for $8 in CA). This is stellar: aroma is funky lambic sourness, but also lots of grassy dry-hop aroma. Flavor is pears, citrus, but then lots of herbal hop funk, with sourness coming in towards the end. One of the best things I’ve had to drink in ages.

Perhaps the finiest gueuze iv ever tried? Spontanious weekend 07. Notes say: Less sour than standard canti gueuze, more balanced than a regular gueuze, hints of apple and lemon, perhaps not the most complex of gueuze, but just stupendous, i was gulping this down like there was no tomorrow, outstanding just an amazing alround brilliance in a glass.

750 ml bottle. Deep golden beer that pours perfectly clear. Light spritzy carbonation. Aroma is pure cantillon, leathery, barnyardy aroma with some light cologne. Very vineous nose with a light earthy character. Lighter acidity than is typical for Cantillon. Some pear/apricot fruitiness. In the mouth, the beer is crisp and bracing with soft lactic acidity, cologne and some earthy/spicy hop flavours as well. Much more restrained than most of their other offerings, but with less acidity the backing complexities are on display for all to see. Earthy dryness, perfumy hops with a great balance of acid, Brett and earthiness. Warming brings out even more peachy fruit and the malts are more prominent than in any other lambic I’ve had. First rate stuff. Cuvee de 89 Bottle shared with random American I met at the bar. Pale golden beer, creamy head. Incredible aroma… classical Cantillon sourness, grapefruit/lemon and heavy funkiness and acidity. Apricot and peach with some strong lemony citrus notes. Fruity and fresh. The hops appear to have diminished somewhat, but they do play off the typical fruitiness that Cantillon has. Assertive sourness. 9 4 8 4 17

Very pale gold colour; little white rim. Very fresh hoppy nose, typically like a fresh bitter. Outspokenly hoppy, tart taste, mending to perfection with the sourness of the lambic. Manages even to be flowery. I love this fresh-hop experiments with lambic. Tart, light MF; refreshing and at the same time enormous dry-out effect. This is just great, enough said. Go and try it.
Earlier Rating: 10/22/2004 Total Score: 4.2
Short moment of orange-coloured head, then reduced to rim; hazy orange to foxy colour. Hight impact-lemon & horseblanket, quite some wood, then mildering to a soft sulphuric, nearly sweetish nose. Shock of lemon and lactic acid, then very woody, and again milder with an impression that reminds me of diacetly - without it being just that. Flowery aromatic - lemon blossom? there’s a spice retronasal too - laurel?Ultra tart, very dry beer, dry out effect, acidburn. Superb, very subtle gueuze (?!), and quite tart at the same time, completely in line with the contemporary Cantillon products.

I asked Sten, the owner of Akkurat in Stockholm, if they got this beer, knowing that it was only released a couple of weeks earlier in Belgium. They just got it in the day before so I was very lucky to get the first bottle! Thanks Sten :-) The beer pours a thin snow white head on a cloudy dark yellow body. The aroma is rather mild but with a nice complexity of hops shining through the grapefruity sourness. The flavor starts with a very nice and fresh hoppy bitterness (East Kent Goldings) and ends in a long lasting citrusy finish with an excellent balanced sourness. It is not as tart as many of the other Cantillons I have had but more fruity with notes of grapefruit and oranges. This beer is really amazing, the mouthfull is nice and foamy and it all ends in a very fine dry finish. This is one of the most balanced and complex lambics I have had to date and I must say that dry hopping really suits lambics. A bull’s-eye from Cantillon!!