Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

2006 Bottle. Pours with a very pink head over a pink hazy body. Good lacing. Aroma is straight real raspberries, right down to the seed and the little hairs that come out of them. Some wood and earth notes as well. Taste is sour, but not quite as puckering as the Kriek (regular Cantillon Kriek, not the Lou Pepe). Really nice with real, fresh, amazingly well captured raspberries. Very puckering, tart and dry. Goes quite well with dark chocolate!

Wow! Another amazing Lambik! Pours a red hue with absolutely no head! Aroma is of rasberries, cherries, and a hint of yeast - not much though. Sour flavor with lots of tropical fruits within the flavor as well. Beer has a lightly tarty ending to it as well! Great tasting beer! Medium texture with light carbonation.

2004 Bottle on 11/30/2008 at the 3rd Annual Richmond Industry Gathering. Very hazy deep amber body with a small slightly pink head. Sweet raspbery and sour aroma. Big sour flavor with light raspberry notes. Light body with high carbonation.

2001 vintage from Friar Tucks in Savoy, IL. Pours amber with some pale pink hues and an off white head, spotty lacing. Lacto/Brett aroma that comes across with notes of vinegar, mildew, lemon, and hay- not inviting but not offensive either. Typical Belgian lambic texture and mouthfeel, which is soft with a fine effervescence. First sip just socks you with a huge mouth puckering sourness. It’s almost too intense for me at first, but like jumping in cold pool, you get used to it after awhile. Raspberry is merely a nuance with the age on this and the bugs taking over. There is some slight acetic (vinegar) notes, but it sort of adds to the complexity. Finish is musty, moderately acidic and somewhat dry. A good beer for it’s style, but just a bit too sour for my personal tastes.

6 oz drafts poured on tap at Binny’s South Loop (Chicago, IL). Matching flutes for the couple as we experience this together. Pours a reddish brown highly hazed with minimal white head. Aromas are funky and oaky up front, light sourness with subtle raspberry on the nose. Initial is tart and oak, light bodied with a subtle funkiness, sour tart finish that sticks to the palate and I enjoy very much. Nice raspberry and oak with sour that isn’t overwhelming, but affirms it’s presence. Very quaffable. Complex. Cheers!

Bottled at Horsens Beerfestival. Hazy pink body with a small pink head. Nice aroma of sour raspberry, and mould. Flavor is refreshing sour, citric fruit, raspberry and wood. Complex, tart and wonderful balanced.

Bottle, vintage 2004. Pours a deep red with a small white head. Aroma is quite funky with lots of old socks, blood (maybe a metallic aroma?), and a fruity tinge. Flavor of tart sourness, more funk and metallic notes, bandaid, and tons of yogurt. Like all Cantillons, super sour and hard to drink. I wasn’t crazy about the flavors in this one, especially in comparison to other lambics. 7/4/7/3/15 (3.6/5)

Bottle, vintage 2004, bottled 2006. Aroma quite funky with sweat, cheese, lemon, barnyard, pineapple. Raspberry jam there as well, but always very funky raspberry jam, very much melded with the base beer. Some strawberry/strawberry-mango notes in there as well. Flavor has more distinct sweet raspberry but is also bitingly tart, acidic, and sour, maybe in that order, maybe not. In short, glorious.