Cantillon 50ºN-4ºE

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Brussels, Belgium

Orange, hazy. Solvent aroma with notes of wood, vinegar, and some grape sweetness. Solvent flavor with notes of clorine and berries. Acidic. Some round sweetness.

My Bottom Line:
Dusty lambic funk massages this Lambic’s citrusy sourness, while white wine sweetness relaxes into a nearly oily sipper of a mouthfeel.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam surrounds the hazy blond.
-This does not taste like a lambic blend (so does not recall a Gueuze), but is rather redolent of a single lambic batch.
-This is sweeter than the usual Cantillon lambic, but balance is still achieved.
-Carbonation is quite low.

Bottle.

The body was hazy gold with a thin white head. The aroma was sour lemons with some floral character. There was also some hints of sweat and sweet apples. The taste was fairly tart with some flowers and bread crust. The finish was very dry. A nice Cantillon, but nothign about this one really stood out to me.

Thanks to beastiefan2k for sharing - cloudy straw, nearly still beer - kind of muted funk and acidity in the aroma for a Cantillon - strong woody components in the nose - the oak is also quite strong in the flavor, and the beer doesn’t have that huge, cheek-slapping sourness I expected - still quite funk/barnyardy, though - because of the nature of the base beer, the cognac barrel hasn’t added a lot of it’s own character, but it has softened the beer a great deal, making it smoother and easier to drink than most of their beers - it also allows some of the earthy complexities to come to the fore that the high acidity would otherwise have squashed - nicely done.

Considering the style, Scores ranging from 1 to 5, 5 being the most intense
Appearance:
Body:   Clear(1)->Murky(5) : 4     Pale Yellow(1)->Copper(5) : 3     Still(1)->Volcanic Sparkling(5) : 1
Head:   None(1)->Large(5) : 2     Lasting: 2     Lacing : 2
Aroma:
Intensity : 3  
Yeast : 5   Bread : 2   Dough : XX   Esters : 3   Phenols : XX   Dusty : 4   Spicy : 2   Apple : 3   Banana : XX   Tropical Fruits : 2   Brett : 4   Barnyard : 4   Leather : 3   Wood : 5   Vinous : 5   Cheese : 2   DMS : XX   Diacetyl : XX Sulfur : XX
Malt : 3   Pilsner : XX   Pale : XX   Vienna : XX   Biscuity : XX   Toasty : XX   Hay : 2   Caramel : XX   Honey : XX   Cereals : XX   Grainy : XX   Wheat : 4
Hops : 1   Noble(1)->American(5) : 1   Leafy : XX   Perfume : XX   Orange : XX   Floral : XX   Lemon/Lime : 4   Herbal : XX   Grassy : XX   Piney : XX
Notes : Pepper : XX   Cloves : XX   Coriander : XX   Ginger : XX   Orange : 2   Earth : XX   Vanilla : XX   Oxidation : XX   Bubblegum : XX
Flavor:
Initial Flavor : Dry(1)->Sweet(5) : 3   Finish Dry(1)->Sweet(5) : 2   Sourness : 4   Acetic : XX   Lactic : 4   Bitterness : XX   Farmy : 3   Complex : 3   Length : 2
Palate:
Light(1)->Full(5) : 2   Flat(1)->Fizzy(5) : 2   Clean : XX   Sharp : 2   Watery : XX   Oily : XX   Chalk : XX   Astringent : 4   Alcohol : 2   Mineral : XX

Comments: A cantillon focusing on vinous nuances. It even feels more alcoholic than most. Interesting funkiness also taking the shape of mushroom, spices and mustiness. Now that’s infected. An infection for the whole family.

Bottled @ One Pint Pub, Helsinki, Belgian Week 2008. Quite hazy peach-lemon colour, small, almost no head. Has some tones of cucumber and peach in the taste. Long finish, very fruity. Apple aroma, complex.

I was slightly disappointed in this one. The aroma was complex, with a bit of cognac and the typical Cantillon sour funk, but I just couldn’t get past the awkward wateriness that occurred mid-sip. The finish was lasting and acidic, but overall the flavors were less homogeneous than I would have liked.

[Bottle] shared by BDR. 200th rating! Pours a hazy straw gold with a moderate off white head. Aroma is fairly alcoholic, some traditional cantillon funkiness, slight sweetness, sour apples, some grape, and earthiness. Flavor is not terribly sour. Some alcohol, grapiness, woodiness, slightly herbal and earthy, I’m not terribly familiar with cognac, so I can’t comment on that aspect, but overall a fairly good beer.