Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

15 month old bottle at home, originally from Belgium. The cork comes out with a small pop and out pours a slightly hazy onion skin coloured beer with a thin fizzy white head. Nose is tart, but with some sour apple sweet flavour and some raspberry, but the dry sourness, mmm. Mouth is very sour and dry, with just a little bit of sweetness at the back of the throat. There’s some fruit there, but it seems under-ripe and rich with tannins. Very nice, sour and fixed my lambic addiction for a little while.

Thanks to MiguelMandingo, 750ml bottle. Pours a very nice pink grapefruit juice color with a bit of fizzy foam spots. Sweet fruity (raspberry, cherry, bit of citrus) tart smells. Sweet Tart candied sourness, but not as sweet as the nose picks up pretty much the same fruit impressions though. Strong carbonation makes a refreshingly tart fruity quaffer.

colre quasi rosso intenso sentori di lamponi naso pulito pochi off-flouvers in bocca acidula secca lampone pulita molto delicata ma persistente

Pours like cranberry juice with no head. Smell is funky sourness with a slight bit of raspberries, but not intense as in most standard fruit beers. Taste is quite tart, with light dry unsweetened raspberries. Still wanting more malt or sweetness to balance it for me. Decent, but not my speed.

Bottle sampled at Cantillon: Poured a vibrant red with a slight purple hue. The head was pink and built high in the delicate flute, and receded slowly. The aroma was of raspberry just cut in half with a fine balance of acidity and mustiness. Flavor was musty with hints of lemon, great acidity and sourness, with the sensation of biting into a raspberry. Very nice flavor. One again soft carbonation leads to a medium-light body that fits perfectly with such a gentle delicate beer. Excellent.

2006 bottle. pours a hazy reddish amber, with little to no head. it fizzed like pop as i poured it into the glass, but nothing formed. there’s a naked lady on the bottle, though, so i’ll count that in favor of appearance. huge sweet and sour raspberry nose, with bits of funk and wood mixed in, as well as a light bready malt and notes of cherry, and hints of acidic lemon and orange zest. huge sour raspberry taste, with the malt coming out more, and the wood playing a much stronger part. all this was noted in the few milliseconds it took for the orange and lemon sourness to completely overwhelm the flavor. in a good way. gosh, that’s sour! finish is puckering sourness to rival rodenbach grand cru. light bodied, virtually no carbonation: this is a quencher. not as much raspberry character as i expected, but that’s quite ok. it tastes like a beer. very tasty!

poured from 12oz. bottle into tulip glass, cork dated 2006 vintage (drank 2/11/08) A: Poured like a bubbly, almost effervescent & fizzy, with a quickly rising 1-finger white head that just as quickly diminishes down to nothing, leaving no lacing. Color is a lively blend of rose, blush & amber. S: Mmm, the raspberries really come through here, wafting upwards and enticing what is to come. Some toffee & caramel notes can be found providing some balance, with a behind-the-scenes sweaty funk and a no-doubt-about-it sour tang. T/M: My mouth instantly puckered, as if I sucked on a lemon wedge. Tart! There’s a barely noticeable sweetness from the berries, carried over the tongue by a prickly, tight carbonation before the sourness takes over again. A thin-bodied vinegar-like consistency keeps this sucker real sour. Not for the faint of heart. D: Honestly, had I not paired this with some Peking duck and a crumbly blue cheese field greens salad, it might have been tough to drink, so pair food wisely!

Pours a crystal clear, deep ruby color. That is, of course if you don’t pour the bit of yeast in at the bottom. Then it turns a cloudy, no-longer-attractive reddish-brown. Do not pour the yeast in! Head looks big and tasty, but is gone by the time you go back for the second sip. Smells very refreshing, like the berry patch I used to find raspberries and blackberries in as a child. Very effervescent. All in all, this beer starts off pretty promising. Then it has to go and get all evil on you. Ridiculously sour and astringent from the instant it touches your tongue. It makes your whole face pucker and one eye close like a troll who snatches babies. I’m trying really hard to like this silly beer, thus the half-way decent rating. I just don’t really see why this should cost me $15, when I could have just poured myself a glass of vinegar for about 15 cents.