Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

Not sure how my description could possibly add anything to this beer. Pure raspberry; pure lambic goodness; a perfect beer in every possible way. Much as we aspire to the angelic order, so raspberries aspire to become one with the transcendent berry perfection that is Lou Pepe Framboise.

A beer to celebrate Belgium’s national day. 75 cl bottle, labelled 2003 (though the cork states 2005!) . Beautiful orange -pink colour with an initially huge fine head that even has some pink tones in it. Aroma: intense raspberry and lemony lambik, wood, even a slight hint of cheese. When it comes to taste, wood and lemony lambik is far more pronounced, though raspberries start the ball. Wood takes over more and more towards the dry finish. Dry mouthfeel, medium to light body, foamy feel. Incredibly complex and refreshing beer. Fruit and wood, raspberry and lemony lambik, all in perfect harmony. I have a hard time deducting any points here.

Bottle from capones. Dark redish pour with almost not head but lots of carbondaltion on the glass. Aroma is of tart raspberriess and cherries. Taste is perfect sour raspberry with some oak or wook mixed in. I will def be making the trip back to capones to get the kriek. I wish this beer would never end.

2005 (so probably released within the last year). Pomegranate red/orange clear sparkling body, until the last pour when it takes on the opaqueness of some tomato soup. Light rose petal pink head. Aroma of the freshest raspberries, still in wooden crates. More oak influence than typical. Flavor: just a fantastic juicy mouth-puckering old-school hardcore sour Cantillonic lambic with tons of raspberries.

Note: '99 means released now. Colour: unbelievable deep cherry-red. When yeast mixes in, slight brown haze. Very little head (fruitacids and kernelcontents), deep rosy-red, but fast disappearing. Nose: as a bucket of freshly plucked raspberries - only intenser. Slight nose of wet wood at the back. Also a waft of wet chalk on a blackboard. Taste: taste as from wild raspberries, but more subdued, with heavier wooden overtones. First impression, surprisingly, as from a southern Europe landwine, slightly diluted with water. Extremely refreshing. Very deep retronasal flavour, not aggressive, sourness mainly fruit acids. Hints of lactic acid and acetic acid, but below identification threshold. Aftertaste: raspberries, lingering on and on, tart. Mouthfeel: rather sharp, very dry but not aggressively so. Lou Pepe ('Gramps' in Langue d'Oc, Occitane) stands for gueuze, kriek or framboise made exclusively with 2 year old lambics, preferably on pipes, used before only for wine (Bordeaux). Added is a sugary liqueur, instead of young lambic for secondary fermentation. Also, the content of fruit per barrel is 50% higher than the 'ordinary' Framboise. This is truly a world classic.

2001. Shocking pinkish red color, amazing they got this without food coloring. Pink head fades. Sour, horse blanket lambic nose, hints of rotting fruit. Sour in the mouth, horse blanket, funk, then moving smoothly into a greenish raspberry flavor with a touch of sweetness. Just great stuff. Super Bowl beer!

Good lord. This is by far one of the best fruit lambics I have ever tried. The initial taste is the funk of a lambic, but it is completely offset by the raspberries, thus leaving no sour aftertaste even though it is very present in the beer. I don’t think it really can get better than this.

Beautiful beer to look at smell and taste. Extreme complexity and depth wonderful sour fruit nose and signature cantillon backbone.