Cantillon Groseille

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

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.

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.

Clear golden with a medium white head. Sour aroma with red currants, wood and barnyard. Very sour flavour with barnyard, leather, sour red currants, grapefruits and wood. Finished seriously sour.

Bottled @HBF2005, vintage 2002
Red hazy color, small white head. Very earthy, mouldy nose. Dry, delicious earthy red currant flavor. Very drinkable lambic, not too acidy or sour.

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.

Beautiful rosy colour with a peach to light foxy shine; good pinkish fine head, fast receding. Delicate fruit nose, fresh fruit, tannins and inevitable (and welcome) horseblanket. Soft, sour taste with a very surprising flavour, reminiscent of (green) sweet pepper peel or sweet pepper mash (coulis de poivrons (verts)). Finishes typical redcurrant, which flavour gradually enforces itself finally. Very dry finish, getting ultra-dry at the end. Outspoken dry-out effect. Superb realisation, in the line of the Soleil de Minuit, and even more the Buckthorn lambic. Great one, Olli!

Pale red coloured. Fresh aroma of berries and lambic. Sour and dry flavour with lots of red currant notes. The sourness is more towards a red currant berry sourness than a traditional lambic sourness. Very dry finish.

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.