Cantillon Goldackerl Gueuze

Commercial Description:
In the lambicworld you have mixed beer with winegrapes for centuries but what has never been done is to use grapes that have been infested with Nobel Rot. (Botrytis Cinerea)
Said and done! We contacted the controversial, austrian winemaker Willi Opitz.
Mr Opitz is very well known for his sweet wines and has won awards such as Late Harvest Winemaker of the Year. He has also made wines for McLaren,the department store Harrods in London as well as the wine Mr President that has been drunk in the White House both by President Clinton and President Bush. He is very innovative and has learning by doing as his motto and he seamed just enough Rock `n´Roll to go along with our new crazy idea. And just as we thought. When he gets the question he replies: " if you are going to make a new unique mixture of beer and wine, I am going to be a part of it!"
Mr Opitz has his vineyard in Burgenland near the lake Neusiedle. The mist and fog from the lake come in over the growth in the autumn mornings and make a terrific climate for the Nobel Rot.
The Botrytis forces out the water from the grapes and makes the sugars crystalize and contributes with a concentration of tastes that are just unbelievable.
The blending!
On the 19th of November of 2004 the little molded sweeties arrived to head-brewer Jean Van Roy at the Cantillon Brewery in Brussels. 35kg of Sämling and 35kg of Welschreisling. That is the same 50/50 mixture that Willi Opitz uses to make his "Beerenauslese Goldackerl".
A very sweet, slightly acidic dessert wine with different tropical fruits in both nose and palete. We macerated the grapes in a secondfill cognac barrel using a 2-year old, soft lambic with strong wine caracter.
The fermentation begun after a few weeks and went on for almost 3 months and created a wonderful, dry, extremely fruity botrytis lambic with lots of raisin and Cognac in the nose!!!
Bottling according to the Champagne Method!!
On februari the 8th the Botrytis Lambic was bottled. But still one more unique action was to be taken.
When making a "Gueuze" the blender adds a bit of young lambic to his old when bottling. The young lambic still has fermentable sugars and will create a secondary fermentation in the bottle. This method was created by the Benedectine monks in the 1530 ´s and is known to the world as "The Champagne Method".
In our Botrytis Lambic we have added the Wine "Beerenauslese Goldackerl" in the bottles both for fermentable sugars as well as the extra flavour. That of course will name our beer Goldackerl Gueuze.