Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Brussels, Belgium

The photo for this beer listing was taken by me, so you can see that I drank a 2000, which had gotten a little bit old and musty. I cut the beer some slack in this rating b/c it was pretty old. It was brutally tart with some horseblanket and band-aid flavors and smells. Pretty complex, with layers that unfold as you spit it out into sink. As you rush to get a glass of water to rinse the lemon-like acidity away, you’ll ponder its combination of dryness and esophagus-destroying pucker-inducing qualities. Very good representative of a style I don’t love too much.

900th rating, 2003 bottle. Raaar. Orange body with a small white head and minimal lacing... usual Cantillon. Aroma is lemons, barnyard action, vinegar tartness, more. Flavor has all of this. I think their normal gueuze is more sour, as this had some sweetness. Very tasty though, I could drink gallons of this stuff if it wasn’t so expensive.

<!-- i -->750 mL bottle, corked and capped (2000 version, bottled in 2002, sampled spring 2004): <!-- /i -->characteristic rusty cap; the persistent, dense ocean froth laps over my bare feet. . . pure gold sunset over the water – a warm breeze pulls the aromas of salt and sour seaweed to my nose. Tart acidic limestone, bitter orange peels, sour rose petals on a lovely bed of perfect carbonation. Bittersweet grass after-taste with a bit of caramel sweetness that leaves a bitter honey film in the mouth. A most drinkable gueuze. 8/5/9/5/16 – 4.3 <!-- br --><!-- br --> <!-- i -->750 mL bottle, corked and capped (2000 version, bottled in 2002, sampled fall 2006): <!-- /i -->rusted cap, moldy cork, hard crust completely covering the bottle neck under the black foil…explosive cork removal…all signs point to a gorgeous beer! Pours with a very generous white tight bubbled foam that reduces, but doesn’t disappear. Clear, brilliant, shining gold! Sour limestone, leather and iron aroma. Subtle enough for the bitterness to hang in the nostrils and not be overwhelming, but rich and complex enough to please my deepest gueuze desires…dry, slightly metallic flavours on a still perfect carbonation. As I near the bottom of this bottle, I wish for it not to end, that I had 6-8 more bottles in my closet and the dry bitterness begins to make by lips smack and tongue curl in a wonderful, exiting wave of gueuze fun! This just keeps getting better! 10/5/9/5/18 – 4.7

Beer 22 Summer 2006 trip in Europe. Drank on 7/2/06 bottled and purchased from The Beer Temple in Brugge, Belgium. 2003 bottle. After having gueze for the first time only a few days earlier it was amazing having this refined sweet and quite complex gueeze. It has a lingering sour taste and feels wine like. Very good, yummy.

(Bottle at Delirium Cafe, Brussels) Pours yellow/orange with a small white head. Fresh salty, grape smell very well balanced. Woody. Minty noets. Rhubarb. Taste: Sour, woody and salty. Well balanced in the taste too. Un-ripe berries and rhubarb.

Bottle at ølbaren - shared with Mette, recommended by jannik. A very nice Geuze. Amber color, small white head. Apple, lemon, grape, dry, mild - sour and acid - but will still dry out your gumms... just as I like them !!!

Bottled (2002). Orange colour, not much head. Aroma is Cantillonish sourness along with fruits and berries. Smooth sourish wooden flavour with some frutiy hints. Very soft and smooth and wellbalanced Cantillon.

750 ml bottle poured a hazy gold with a minamal white head. Aromas of sour grapes, musky, earthy and a bit of barnyard. Palate was light bodied and tart. Flavors of brett, a bit of horseblanket, some fruitiness [apple and grape] and a bit of dustiness with a lingering tart dry finish.