Cantillon Groseille

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

375ml bottle (One Pint, Helsinki)
Marmalade coloured. Some marmalade aroma too. Extremely tart taste. Fruity too, but not specifically redcurrant. Slightly peppery. A little bit of glue too from the heavy esters from the barrel. Puckering, but excellent.

Botled at One Pint Pub, Helsinki. Pale orange, almost clear. Lemony acidic nose. The fresh red currant flavour adds just a whiff of flavour to te trademark lemony Cantillon acidic lambic. Citric acidity is the dominant feature. The lovely intense complexity of the lambic is dominant, the red currant is a compiment.

Bottle, at One Pint Pub, Helsinki (12 euros). When at the One Pint, one must drink the special Cantillons, even if it is a rather expensive experience. The name is a little confusing for us Brits as it would appear that Groseille can be translated as either Gooseberry or Redcurrant. This one would appear to be made with Redcurrants, although there didn’t seem to be any appreciable impact on the colour, which was a fairly pale amber - a little lighter than the Maquereau. The aroma was slightly less farmyardy than the Maquereau but, in contrast, the Redcurrant did add a fruity tang. Overall, still quite a citric feel though. That impression carries though onto the palate but again, there’s a hint of tart berry fruit that was lacking in the Maquereau. But again, Redcurrant (like the Gooseberry used in the Maquereau) is a pretty sharp and acidic fruit, which emphasises those characteristics, which are already present. Sharp and fresh mouthfeel. Not the fullest flavoured fruit lambic from Cantillon (although a touch more than the Maquereau) but pretty good stuff. I marginally preferred this to the Maquereau.

375ml bottle brewed in 2002 from <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/finland/ target=blank>One Pint Pub in Helsinki, Finland. Golden hay in colour, thin white head ring around the glass, very light wispy lace. The aroma has lots of redcurrents and cranberries, sharp old cheese, musty, some yeast and barnyard, lightly acidic. The flavour of cranberries, green apples, old white cheddar cheese, musty, some yeast, lots of tart redcurrents. Intensely dry puckering mouthfeel, light body, high carbonation. Finishes long, sour and dry, soft sourness. Extremely refreshing. All of the flavours blend together to create a masterpiece.

Dark orange colored, hazy appearance. No head. Dryness, sourness and some berries in aroma. Thin to medium bodied. Flavor is also dry and sour, mild red currant tones come up too. Aftertaste lasts with sourness and currant. For being Cantillon, easy to drink!

Bottled (2002). Hazy orange colour, with hints more to the reddish orange. Small white head. Aroma is sour typical cantillonish lambic, but the redcurrant bring a certain sweetness to it. Same goes for the flavour. One of the "easier-to-drink" Cantillons, due to the small sweetness brought from the berries.

375mL bottle brewed in 2002 and consumed on 12/22/2005 among the very enjoyable company of Rastacouere and Siroy. Thanks to Juha (bogdi1) for his always generous trades and this most rare of treats.
Typical cantillon gueuze pour with some age on it yields a hazy goldenrod and straw colored yellow, with perhaps a light tint of copper? Head is white and moderate to full at first, but quickly begins its descent to a light covering and eventually a ring, while light lacing is left behind. The aroma begins sulphury, quite barnyardy, but yet light and soothing with an old, musty, bretty perfuminess to it, coupled with the usual sun-baked leather tannins and sour lacto/pedio suggestions. The redcurrant, not surprisingly, does not emerge, (or at least, I can not detect it, in the nose). Taking my first sip, I find myself (at first) disappointed that I can find the red currant neither in the flavor. Just a strong dose of your typical Cantillon gueuze flavors, farmy, funky, quite cheesy and moderately acidic, wtih a quenching sourness. BUT, to my extreme delight, the red currant readily makes its way out on the finish, growing very tart, as if chewing on the very skins of the red currants. Ever so subtley done, almost so well done, that you wonder if Mr. Van Roy could have possibly controlled it this well to his liking (implying that much of it was luck). Whatever the case, you get a brilliantly aged, fully yeasty and complex cantillon gueuze up front, followed by a tart, fruity, crisp and lightly acidic red currant flavor that is elegant and understated. The lambic is of course fully attenuated, while the carbonation firm and tight, yet softened by time somewhat, so as to offer a gentleness that a younger gueuze would not have. Very noble and wise old lambic.

Cloudy golden looks developing a simple light white ring. Dreamy lambic character grows spectacular as the bottle warms. Seems to enjoy breathing like a fine wine, it grows very farmy and leathery, strawy and barnyardy. Pointy yeast interplays enclose a surprisingly important malt background. Obviously citric, but truly well developed lactic character after 3 years in the bottle. A lucky one I guess, I’m not expecting that every Cantillon resembles another, but while most Lou Pepes I’ve had have appeared soft compared to the regulars, while many of their weird fruit experiments (like spuyten duyvil) have appeared like a tweaked gueuze, there is from time to time the very acidic and dry lou pepe boasting with character and there is that groseille that explodes with crystalline and surprisingly clean very dry, pungent and sour, 100% attenuated lambic flavour profile. Dried hay dominated honeyed notes, yet the body remains medium in size and with the fitting champaigny carbonation. The currant grows very expressive, especially toward the finish, if its juice sweetness is totally fermented, it is enveloped by lactic acid to come out pure and strong in the finish. That this was the 2nd best beer Clark offered that night speaks for the incommensurable quality of what he broke opened. Thanks buddy.