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Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze

Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze

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 Percentile 
98
overall
A Lambic - Gueuze brewed by
Cantillon

Brussels, Belgium

bottled
common

on tap
unknown

Broad Distribution
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 Ratings  Average  Score  ABV  Style Pctl  Serve in  Advanced 
2693.94/5.03.93/5.05%78.3Flute, Tumbler P  Stats

Commercial Description:
The Lou Pepe Gueuze is a blend of three different 2-year-old lambics. The standard Cantillon Gueuze is a blend of 1,2, and 3-year-olds. The inclusion of the younger lambic (which still has some unfermented sugars in it) sparks a refermentation in the bottle that gives Gueuze its famous champagne-like spritziness. The simple idea behind the special Lou Pepe blend is that it should have much more of the taste of old lambic, which is of course much harder, drier, more sour, and more complex than the young stuff. (Though 3-year-olds are generally more complex than 2-year-olds, it's not necessarily so; the 2-year-olds used in this instance have as much character as most 3-year-olds.) This being Gueuze, it has to be spritzy, so the brewery opted for the same method used in conditioning champagne: everyday refined sugar is dissolved in water and added to cause a refermentation. The sugar ferments out completely, so there is no residual sweetness, which Jean-Pierre famously detests.

 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 JoeM500 (1877), Chicago (little italy), Illinois, USA
4.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/59/105/520/20

Oct 21, 2002    Updated: Jun 29, 2003
1998 VERSION sampled from BOTTLE #114 of 120 produced: Smoothest of all the Cantillom lambics and gueuzes! Bright gold in color, slighly hazy. Cheeses and petting zoo memories in the nose. Super complex without any tastes really dominating, including the sour notes! Superb gueuze made from 2 year old lambics that are handchosen by the Grandfather of the brewers family.

 Juelze (729), Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/58/103/516/20
Oct 24, 2008  
Thanks to my bro for sharing this. Pours a clear straw gold color with thin bubbly head on it. Aroma is of sour fruit, wood notes, barnyard, and musty straw. Taste is sour fruit, tangy wheat, musty, straw, and wood notes. Good stuff but a tad harsh compared to other geuzues IMHO.


 Petrucci914 (402), Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
10/104/59/103/515/20
Oct 24, 2008  
Thanks to TheCheeseMan for this! 2005 Bottle drunk via Lambic Flute. Pours a straw-golden color with a large soapy head that fades rather quickly. Aroma is divine - tart sour funk, hay, and maybe a bit of grape and pear. Taste is sour and tart, with a dry finish. In gueuze, I trust!


 nimbleprop (602), Washington, Washington DC, USA
4.5 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/59/105/518/20
Oct 17, 2008  
Was able to order a bottle of the 2005 vintage by special request from the private, off menu, stock of Brasserie Beck in Washington D.C. Wasn’t cheap but hell, it was my birthday. Corked wine bottle pours a translucent, hazy orange color that looks a bit like grapefruit juice with a cloudy, swirling white head. Aroma was amazing, slight, zesty citrus with grass, hay, tart fruits, pears, earthy, a little malty, meyer lemons, white grapes, with plenty of Brett coming through early and often. Flavor is similar, the wild yeast complexities come through nicely and the marriage of flavors is more reminiscent of a pricey bottle of wine rather than a pint of ale. Flavor has more of the grass and hay, more earth, lemons, grapefruits, spice, white pepper, white grapes, lemon-lime soda and sweet tarts. Soft, a little chalky, with some slightly zesty bitterness lasting in the mouth. Wish I had a case to age in my cellar because it’s clearly progressing well. I’m not a big sour/geuze fan but this was one of a kind.


 hiddenvariable (184), pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/57/104/516/20
Oct 15, 2008  
2007 bottle, with weird crap on it that smells awful. pours a mostly clear golden amber with a thickish off-white head that fades quickly. mmm what a smell. lemon and orange citrus zest, with a sort of earthy/woody/grassy character that reminds me of a forest on a cool fall day. a hint of mustiness, and that sharp sour cantillon funk. a bit more mellow, though, than others i’ve had from cantillon. less fruity and citrusy in the taste, with more of a wheat-like flavor coming out, mixing well with the light malt. a bit of straw and barnyard hang around, and the lemon finds its way in at the end. sharp sour finish, until you get used to it, at which point you notice a light bitterness and a lingering dryness. great mouthfeel - slightly oily, thin enough to be quenching, but never watery. spritzy, as the bottle says, but the carbonation is so little, it doesn’t add much. more mellow than i’m used to from cantillon, or from any gueuze really. it still has that biting acidity, but it’s toned down. great stuff.


 DuffMan (2101), Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/58/104/517/20
Oct 1, 2008  
This is only my third or fourth geuze, but I think it is the best so far. Striking aroma of musty sour fruit. Sweet straw-like foundation with crazy yeasty fruit and a funky barnyard-like quality that combines the sensation of dried straw/hay with an earthy mustiness. Sour, with high acidity giving it a tartness and dryness to the finish. Interesting and very good.



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