Brouwerij Cantillon
Belgium
Sighted at: Table and Vine -
Northampton MA, d.b.a - NYC
One of a handful of Lambic breweries,
Cantillon specializes
in very strong and sour lambics.
Rose de Gambrinus - 1997
The first time I had a Cantillon, it was at a
Belgian Beer
Festival where the organizer ensured us that
the Cantillon was
intended to taste like this. It was tremendously
yeasty and it
was so sour that it caused me to grimace on
every taste. However,
after a half of a glass, I started to understand
what the brewers
were trying to accomplish.
If you haven't been drinking Geueze beers
long enough to appreciate
them, don't attempt to drink this beer. It makes
every other beer
you have ever tried look tame in comparison.
Even the Rose de
Gambrinus, which has a small amount of
raspberries and sour cherries
added in during fermentation, is so intense
that it takes me over
an hour and a half to finish a 750ml
bottle.
This beer is wonderfully sour and salty -
so sour that you've
never had anything quite this sour before and
won't ever have
something this sour again (unless you try their
Kriek). The beer
has a strong effervescence, which just
disperses the flavor even
more into your stunned tastebuds. It's so
wonderful, it could
make you cry... then again, it's so sour it could
make you cry even
more.
(Avery Glasser)
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