Cantillon Cuvée des Champions

Sampled 7-19-2007. I believe this is my first unblended lambic. Pours a brown hued orange. Nose is slightly like a certain flavor of Ricola throat drops. I can’t remember exactly what kind, but I think it was lemon and herbs or something like that. Antiseptic tone to it. Fair amount of wood is on there too. Flavor is sour indeed. Definite wood character to it. Just a pure mix of tart and wood. This is what a lambic is. Feel is as expected on the liquid and ripe with carbonation. Overall very drinkable. If you haven’t had a real lambic and don’t appreciate that sour funk, you won’t dig this one. This is a purists dream. Very much worth taking the bus to Philly for a day to get a hold of.

750ml bottled in 2006. Poured into a flute the color is a bright light melon orange. The carbonation isn’t very active and there is no head. Aroma is fruity sourness. There is some funkiness but it isn’t obvious. The flavor is smooth and well blended. Plenty of sourness, tart in the back of the throat. Fruity and very acidic. There is carbonation in the body, although the pour would never show it.

I like the idea of this beer -- to celebrate the local soccer team’s division tile, and I like the way the bottle looks. I kind of like the actual beer too. Sharp acidity with the typical Cantillon tartness, that’s kind of good and kind of unpleasant at the same time. Has a kind of woody smoothness to round it out, which is nice. Like many Cantillon products, it’s reminicient of eating grass, bread, and lemons, sitting out on a hilltop on a breezy summer day.

375ml Bottle as Pikkulintu from Pikkulintu, Helsinki- Hazy golden in colour. A surprisingly slightly hoppy but sour aroma. Tart and musty taste which is quite pleasant and refreshing.

Bottle from the Blue Max.Pours a cloudy color like Countrytime lemonade but this is not your daddy’s artificial sugarladen piss-tasting lawnmower riding on a hot summer afternoon beverage. Man, how can you describe a Gueuze? Seriously? The funk is strong here young Jedi.

2006 Bottle from my secret santa this year. Thanks Jacob! Been wanting this one for a while and couldn’t wait to open it up. Shared with Ethan and Henning. Pours a hazy orange golden with a fizzy simple head that fades. Aroma is musty, lemon, basement, hay, and light grassy hops. Flavor is puckering lemon, funky cheese, and a nice citrusy dosing of aged hops. I would say this is more drinkable than the organic gueuze. Wish I had more.

Shared by turdferguson, thanks Sam! Pours a pale hazy orange with a thin fizzy white head. The aroma is tart, acidic, vinous, and a little citrusy. The flavor is tart, acidic, vinous, citrusy, very tart and acidic but still more mellow than some of their other brews. Nice tart biting palate, not super carbonated. The finish is lasting and tart with a bit of a dry feel.

375ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki), branded as "Pikkulintu". Hazy gold, no head. Sour lambic aroma - dry hoppy hints too. Apricot in the taste on top of a standard Cantillon lambic backdrop. Very tasty - well balanced sharpness. Long pleasant finish.