Cantillon Saint Lamvinus

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

750mL Bottle. Thanks James! Aroma is a fairly plain straight forward horsey funk, cotton, and lemon juice acid. A little acerbic grape skin. Pours a brilliant, vibrant flaming clearish red. Wow. Rose-tined head. Subtle mingling of lactic and citric acids. Champagne-like. The grape doesn’t jump and just lends a gentle, lightly vinous, addition of color and citric acid. Rich and tangy. Incredibly refined and delicate. Long, long, dry finish. So much softer than most Cantillons. Excellent. A wonderful sipper.

Nose is strong of wood, red wine, berries, and slight funk. Pour is a deep red with purple highlights. Taste is heavy of red wine on the front, wine grapes turn sour, then the woodiness takes over and finishes with a nice funky earthiness.

750ml bottle. Bottled in 2007. Served in a Smokestack chalice (v2) a little colder than needed. Gentle aroma, at first, possibly due to the temperature of the beer. What I can coax out of it is slight funky brett, a little wood, some acidity and a berry like fruitiness, akin to black raspberries. Reddish purple color with a smallish offwhite/pink head. The fruitflies seem to appreciate the aroma and or flavor since I just picked one out of my glass. The intial taste is somewhat tart, with under ripe berries, vanilla and some subtle barnyard characteristics, followed by a rush of acid, with the acetic aspect more noticeable, and some nice berry and general fruity flavors. There is more ethyl acetate (fingernail polish remover) than I would care for, but it is not over the top. I’m not sure that I could distinguish the fruit in the beer as being wine grapes, but I do get a nice berry flavor throughout and lingering into the finish. Once again, this is a Cantillon beer that I do not find overly sour, yet I am not sure if it is the beer or me, probably the latter. The beer seems to come into more of its own after warming up, there is more rich fruit flavors counterbalanced by a nice sourness that feels more lactic than acetic, inasmuch as it is more gentle for the amount of sourness presented than it would be if it was all or mostly acetic. The second glass seems to be a little more of most everything; more fruit, more tartness, more wood (still subtle), but less barnyard. This is a well made, imaginative beer, but it comes at such a steep premium that I doubt I will ever try it again and I am fine with that.

(Bottle - 0.375 l, bottled in 2007, at Pikkulintu, Helsinki, on 2009-06-27) Ruby red and almost cloudy. Small white head. Sourness, berries and wood in aroma. Medium bodied and bit dry palate with medium carbonation. Berries, grapes, sourness, wood, bread and bitterness in taste. Berries and sourness in aftertaste.

Got this bottle from Ryan just returning from Belgium. Cranberry red body and pink head. Crisp, tart, dry flavor with a sour finish. This is the first legitimate sour beer I have had and I would definitely like to have more of it in the future.

Nose=merlot and tartness. Pours a darker cloudy plum color that is quite beautiful. Smoother but not as crisp as the other Cantillon with a dry finish.

750ml bottle. Poured red with a pink medium head that is short lived. Aroma is barnyard, light sourness but not much fruits. Felt some tiny hints of wine as it warmed up. Taste is light sourness, dry but still not much fruits. Very drinkable and refreshing but I would have hoped for a much more fruity profile. There are small hints of cherries and grapes to be found but really discrete. Still, is is a really fine lambic that is very enjoyable and tasty. Also quite drinkable since the sourness is not too powerful. Carbonation is not very strong but full of small bubbles tickling the back of the tongue. I will have the chance to re-rate with my other bottle !!

Pours a dark and almost clear burgundy color with lots of bubbles and a pink foam head. Aroma is sour fruits and oak. Flavors are again fruity with a cherry and grapes wine and a strong sour finish. It is very dry and refreshing at the same time. Better when served cool and drinked on a nice hot day, makes a great afternoon.