Brasserie Cantillon, Brussels, Belgium.
Ah, Cantillon! The true lambic, where sour beers started. (The Belgian tradition, I mean, not Cantillon specifically.) Why can't I find you anywhere?
It's slipped my mind: did the importer pull out of distributing to our state, or have these bottles become so rare and expensive that they don't wind up on the shelves of the stores that I visit? Or do I see them and pass based on the price tag? This brewery has appeared in the Nib exactly once before. It was seven years ago, after a friend brought a bottle of St. Lamnivus to my birthday celebration. And I referred to my notes from nine years prior. It just seems insane that in 10 years of this blog, I haven't come across another bottle.
Until the other week when my friend Julie tossed a bottle of the kriek lambic my way. The cork says 2017, so I need to ask her some questions and clear up these mysteries. I had a bottle of this way back in October of 2004, and make these scribblings, and I present them now in 2020, after consuming the bottle during a ZOOM session with friends last Friday night, here in our time of the COVID-19 quarantine.
pinky crimsony coloration...light, negligible head...
nose is funkalicious, big fruitalacious, but not moreso than this overpowering funkadelicaliciousness...cherry-sweet, berry-licious...
Taste? ...ooo, wee! yeah, the cherry's there...but the funk is in control here, this is a distinctive taste, not for everyone... hey, maybe not even for me, at least not every day...whoa, again, I say...big, fresh, cherry taste, but yeasty ...meaty...huge mouthfeel, never ever feels like getting off the couch...pretty damned delicious, but , oh, so unique....
I put these words to electronic pen and paper, while 1/2 a bottle remains...fierce flavor, full, lush, impressive.
I'll let my 16-year old notes stand. Here's what the brewery says:
Beer with a slightly acidic taste of red fruit complemented with subtle almond flavours.
Kriek brings out its maximum “fruitiness” when drunk young. With age the lambic will take the upper hand, but this is at the expense of the fruit component.
Color :
crimson red
Alc:
5.5%
IBU:
25
Serving Temperature:
15 °C/59 °F
Bottle size(s)
37,5 cl (12,5 oz) (currently available at the brewery)
75 cl (25 oz) (currently available at the brewery)
There's always something different in the Belgian brewery's descriptions. Almond? Okay...
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