On tap at Moeder Lambic. Bright ruby-red color with bubbly pink head. Nose is intense, fresh raspberry with lemony backdrop. Fairly tart flavor balanced by an impression of light sweetness from the fruit. Soft in the mouth with subtle acidity felt more in the belly than on the tongue. Beneath the complexity it was just flat-out tasty. A mind-blower, frankly.

This was the clear winner in a head to head with a lou pepe kriek. The kriek looked better, but this was better in every other way. It is kind of an ugly brown color, but big raspberry aroma with yeast and sourness. Sour flavor as well, but the raspberry has held up remarkably well considering the age. Intensely sour flavor, and loads of raspberry.

Poured from a 750 ml bottle, vintage 2001. Thanks Joe! Fleshy, muddy, rusty red hue. Seedy acerbic raspberry aroma; alternately soft on stems and musty grass, and violent, on peppery funk; still dominant in that raw, sharp wooden acid character; rustic and rough.

Cutting, fresh raspberry flavor is sharply imbued with funk and minerals, though the fruit still seems impressively lively and evocative; the minerals, firey woods and acetic acids provide wildness and puckering punch never shrinking back, but naturally rich tartness of the fruit is what’s really the centerpiece, and it’s a beautiful, visceral experience. The vinegar acidity and puckering wooden heat grows more punchy mid-palate.

Still, the body is sumptuous and full, more diverse and more versatile than other high-acid examples; a typical, flaming acidic finish showing lengthy raspberry flesh and seeds; not immensely dry, but satisfying. The best non-gueze I’ve had from Cantillon; a clean, refreshing example that still has all the outrageousness you could ask for from a lambic.

Bottle from my friend Eric. Pours a nice ruby color with a frothy head. Aromas of berries and funk. Flavor is just pur vinegar, sour yeast and sour berries. I am not a sourhead and wont be any time soon. No sir.

2005 vintage on label, cork is stamped bottled 2007. Clear cherry juice color with a fleeting pink head. Big tart, barnyard funk, wood lemon aromas. Light / medium body. Hugely tart, saliva inducing mouthfeel at first fades some as your tongue goes numb. Very good flavors of woody raspberry seed with tart raspberry pulp and lemon and dry toasted wood. Stays nicely acidic throughout, and thankfully no aspirin burn on the way down. Simply awesome.