Cantillon Lou Pepe Pure Kriek

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

2004 vintage from Holiday Wine Cellar. Not being a huge fanatic of lambics, this one impressed me. Effervescent pour that produces a bubbly pink head that eventually settles to fine lacing. Plenty of carbonation amidst the nice ruby red color. Funky acidic aroma from the wild yeast, backed by loads of berries and earth tones. Amazingly easy to drink, very smooth flavor of breadish yeast, raspberry, cherry and melon. Just the right amount of tartness and carbonation for a crisp, clean finish. Presence of wood as well. Not much lingering, yet I looked forward to each sip. An expensive bottle, but worth every penny.

Bottle 2001. Cork 2003. Pours ruby red with a light red head that dissapates to a thin sliver around the glass. Aroma of cellar and wood and a bit of cherries. Taste is tart and sour upfont with wood and then sweettart in the end. Will take some time to aquire a taste for it.

Label reads 2003. Cork reads 2005. Off notes 1/2007. Pours an extremely slightly hazed garnet color with a pink head that doesn’t stick around. Smells like when you have a bandaid on and it gets really wet and you don’t take it off for a while, but when you do, your skin smells funny. Antiseptic smell. Also a fair amount of fruit and a very mild yeast influence. Flavor is of the best aged lambics. Mildly funky at first with a typical sour punch in the mouth that isn’t very powerful. Definite wood influence on the palate. Calmly there, but not overpowering at all. Feel is typical. Not a ton of bubble, but a little bit. Extremely drinkable. In my limited experience with lambics, this is by far the best I have had. And rightly so for $21 a bottle. If you see it, try it. Worth the money IMO. Bloody marvelous.

Bottle 2003 - Very beautiful clear red body with a huge lasting pink head; Huge very fine nose, lots of kriek aroma: pit marzipan, peel like tannins, a very limited very balanced amount of yeast aromas gives it an extreme degree of complexity; Big body with lots of fill, perfect soft carbonation, lots of fruit acids, lots of lactic acids but superbly balanced (much better balance then your usual Cantillon); Very elegant fine tuned finish, again super balanced fruity acidy, initially lots of cherry meat aromas, late lots of yeast aromas, barrel, very late lemon both meet and peel. Overly complex, very balanced, overly elegant what an amazing beer.

Name: Lou Pepe Kriek
Date: 02/21/2004
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, RateBeer SE Gathering, 2004

dark red, tart aroma with an under current of rich cherry, huge tart flavor with a wonderful balance of cherries, long tart finish, best kreik ever
-------- /> Name: Lou Pepe Kriek
Date: 12/25/2006
Mode: bottle
Vintage: 2001

endless tartness, rich cherry adds good balance,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***+/4

Deep red of color with a reddish head. An aroma of strawberry, fresh cherries, notes of sweets and sour notes. A flavor of dry cherries, sweet notes, sour notes and nice drinkable. A well balanced lambic.

2004 vintage sampled at the blind tiger ale house. Tart cherries and sourness in the aroma, some wood. Not very sugary albeit well balanced. The sourness is incredibly balanced with how acidic this beer is. Delicious

750 ml bottle

I picked this up over Christmas time in Rockford, IL. It was a bit pricy so I didn’t want to drink it for less than a good reason. In this case it was to ccelebrate the GTMW and clear some cellar space. I can always pick up another bottle and store it until my stomach learns to not churn after two sips of such wonderful beer.

Aroma / Appearance - The nose is very tart cherries as one would expect from such a style. It was almost like cough syrup but without the sugary sweetness or thick consistancy. The body looked almost perfect - translucent medium red as if someone blended red Twizzlers into a liquid form. A bubbly thin head tried to persist but was quickly swallowed by the acidity below.

Flavor / Palate - Now we get to the painful / delicious part of the story. I was only able to drink about an ounce and a half of this before my stomach began to rebel. Next time I won’t this on a mostly empty stomach. The flavor of intensely sour cherries filled my senses. A very funky sensation then washed down my throat dying out every corner. Even on the way home thirty minutes later I was still parched. This is one of the most acidic beers I have ever tried - almost like La Folie but with more funk.