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)