Cantillon Cuvée des Champions

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Brussels, Belgium

Poured a hazy orange yellow color with a small, white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of white grapes, funky horseblanket, musty barnyard, hay, and oak. Sour lemon peel, green apple, more oak as well. Moderately carbonated mouthfeel.

Belgian Beer #100: Dark gold color with a thin head. Sugary and sour aroma with a bit of wheat, perhaps? Very sharp, crisp, and tart flavor. Lot’s of wheat, hops, and lime. Very tasty and a good one to celebrate 100 with!

Updated at my Jan 07 party. 04 and 05 bottle tasted side by side- thanks to Optimator for the 04 and eclectic for the 05. 04 was much better and way more tart and sour. 05 was more funky and bretty while not as sour. RLB YEHA 05. Pours a cloudy yellow with almost no head. Lots of lacto- acidity in the aroma, some citrus, and lightly hoppy. Very sour flavor even for cantillon (not quite as sour as fou foune), but definitely mouthpuckeringly sour. Some barnyard musty flavors, more hops but overwhelmingly sour. Still pretty nice and relatively easy to drink.

(75 cl bottle purchased at Ölbutikken, Copenhagen) Almost clear golden color and first pur, turns shady with the second. Very big head for its style, white. Smooth acidic scent, rather subtle in comparison to some of its cousins. Some almond paste also. Acidic to sour taste, a bit metallic and bitter lemon peels. Spritzy mouthfeel. Higher bitterness than expected, but perhaps not so much from hops than fruit peels of some sort.

Ahhh, cuvée des champignons at long last! ;)

The boring (but ever so important) details: Consumed 3/31/05 at room temperature in a Lindemans Lambic flute.

I should just say "Five" for appearance and not waste any more time. What more could you ask? Beautiful, immediately noticeable, burnished copper shine to a body that runs the spectrum from orange to yellow. Hazy, without being muddy. Rapidly moving, miniscule bubbles rise incessantly. Large amount of white (with a slight yellow sheen to it) head is lasting and leaves the glass permanently laced (meaning until I wash it out; that’s some low filtration!).
The nose comes alive from the minute the cork is pulled, with playful yellow fruits (pears, nectarines, apricots), soft and restrained, aged hops, vibrantly funky yeast and light pepper atop green apples. Light woody/oak nuances are distinctive, but never overdone. I’m not smelling any eggy farts, though of course there is sulphur. . . .

Hardly being able to wait, I drink greedily and my mouth is alive with a very much lively, engaging, chatterbox of a lambic. Soft fruit flavors, plenty of farmhouse character. Lipsmacking brett adds the tartness, with plenty of lactobacillius to balance, adding a sour, cheesy note to the flavor. Ripe cheese, musty wood, moderate acidity (by Cantillon standards), with light orange zest, some white pepper, tea leaves/herbalness and a very dry/sour finish.
Body and mouthfeel are so stunningly executed, you don’t really even think about them, you just drink and enjoy the flavors and feel refreshed at having done so. Soft, easygoing, natural carbonation adds just the right amount of texture, while a rich, but yet not-too-full body provides a perfect serving vessel for these plentiful flavors.
As I drink more and finish the bottle, all too quickly, I have a long-lingering flavor of rustic cheese mixed with light green apple tartness, on my palate. Quite delightful. This stuff has aged so well and with such care. There is a bit of a lapse of flavor, upon first sip, as Schropfy notes, but the palate quickly gets used to it, and the beer is rendered that much more refreshing.

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.

(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.

Bottle at EBF 2008. Hazy golden colour with a small white head. Moderate aroma and taste of sweet sour fruits and citrus. Lasting finish. Well balanced.