Cantillon Cuvée des Champions

I think this beer is a lot of fun. But my two friends I dragged to Bill and Steiny’s have not enjoyed the lambics as much as me, or at all really. I don’t care. The Belgian lambic makers are crazy and great.

Bottle at Ølbaren - just before a "Keiji Haino" concert - a very good concert by the way !!! - shared with Mads and Jacob. Unclear golden - small white head. Very nice - fresh hopped. Gooseberries, light earthy, ligh barnyard. Dry. Lovely.

Split a bottle with a few friends at my cousin’s Oktoberfest. Hazy yellow color. Funky, barnyard aroma. Mildly carbonated. Dry, citric flavor with a tart finish.

2003 Vintage. Thick hazed golden/amber topped with a thin skin. Farmhouse yeasts beneath a defined floral, leafy hoppiness that brings to mind dying roses. Mid-bodied, extremely dry with grape-skin astringence. Steady, tart flavor with the hops in remission, dry-hopping only succeeding as an aromatic benefit.

<font size=-4>Sampled at Delilah’s <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eventID=4201>2nd Annual Lambic Beer Festival.</font>

From the mouth of the brewer the Cuvée des Champions is a beer that is not sold directly by Cantillon. It’s a recipe that they use and re-use when they make an “exclusive” beer for a restaurant/pub/distributor. It goes by many names. I bought mine as a Cuvée du 89 at Beer Circus (supposedly the first batch). Cloudy yellow-blonde with a medium white head. I thought I was going to be blown away by this old gueuze but no. Aroma is a bit more skunky (wet fur) than the standard Cantillon gueuze and taste has a bit more of a juice character. Overall similar but mellower than the regular gueuze. An excellent beer but I prefer the aggressiveness of the easier to find regular gueuze. Cuvée des Second Best.

(750ml bottle) Cloudy hefe coloured. Strong tartedness with sour cranapple tones. I have a real tough time with gueuze... I definitely like the nose more than the flavour.

Lemon, leather, wood, cork, bamboo, lots of manure...driving through farm country. Tart, corky, apple skin notes, hints of leather. Good gueuze, fairly approachable.

Tried at Weekend of Spontaneous Fermentation 27/05/06. Dull straw colour with a smoother taste than all the others tried, balanced, pear and apple in the taste then grapefruit.