Cantillon Iris

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

Tap at the Cheeky Monk Denver. Cloudy amber with little head. Complex aroma of hops, peach, malt, and roses. Apricot, caramel, hint of brandy flavor with a pronounced hop finish. A sour pale ale.

UPDATED: MAR 6, 2011 375mL 2005 thanks to the RateBeer crowd at Spuyen Duyvil. Pours a mostly flat clear orange. Aroma is citrusy, perfumey, very spicy with lots of cognac and dried orange peel. Taste is massively dry, spicy, peppery, perfumey. Not sour and very slightest tartness. Will need to crack open my ’07 bottle soon to compare. 8/4/8/5/15=4.0

375mL 2004. This vintage is much sweeter up front in both the aroma and body. More orange candies abound, tamarind candies, almost cloying sweetness. Very different and not my style. 7/4/7/4/13=3.5

750mL 2005 ed. Pours a hazy, glowing deep orange with a towering, healthy, rocky off-white head. Huge retention for any beer but unreal retention for a lambic. Aroma is fresh grapefruit, white grapefruit peel and dried pomelo peel, potpourri oranges, fresh/juicy oranges, rich floral notes, heavy pepper, very present caramel, and muted but present soft house funk and fruity Brett. Taste is fresh, lightly bitter, massively lactic, soft, spritzy, and citrus heavy with an insane amount of rich complexity that is tough to describe. Tannic oak is present but not so important, bitter flowers, white pepper, grass, earth, grapefruit juice, bitter citrus, light citrus acidity. Mouthfeel is light, soft, all encompassing pillow-like carbonation with sharp, zippy lactic acidity and then finishes full oaky dry. It is just so perfect that you don’t even know what to say. Unreal. 3/6/2011 9/5/9/5/17=4.5

Bottle from Beers of Europe. Hazy orange colour, large off-white head, musty. Aroma is sour fruits, bit of vinegar, yeasty. Flavour is very sour, yeasty, and fruity. Long sour finish. Very enjoyable.

Waw, what a great beer! It comes straight at all of your sences. It looks great: a cloudy amber colour with a nice head. Very lively beer, even the sound it makes when poured into the glass is great. Perfect, very complex nose. Perfectly balanced taste: acidic, sour and a some bitterness in the aftertaste. Perfection, need to get more of this stuff. (Corked Bottle 75cl, label says Iris 2006, cork says 2008 so probably brewed in 2006 and bottled in 2008)

(750 ml @ Ravintola Gloria, Kuopio. 2006 version. Rated @ 17.7.2009.)
Clear at first, but after a while the classic hazy orange colour forms. Nice and stable head. Very fruity aroma with hops, pine, apple and apricots. Extremely tart taste which creates a really dry mouthfeel. Light sweetness balances the taste. Very refreshing with a really dry finish. True Cantillon quality.

Murky amber with light, off-white head / Nose of sour cherries, oak, and brett / Medium body, tart and acidic, slightly thin, with good, bitter finish / Flavors of sour cherries, oak, caramel, chrysanthemums, and barnyard brett / Very nice, in a thin, acidic style.

Finally, my first unblended lambic. Near clear golden pour with whitish head. Cheesy, tart, dry, seems underaged despite being a 2007. Would be good with a cheese platter

from 2003:nice old aroma,lovly amber, hazy, minimal head, lightly bitter, medium sourness, medium body, oily feel, lively, long finish, the beer suprice me.