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Cantillon Iris

Cantillon Iris - Lambic - Unblended

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 Percentile 
96
overall
Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended

Brussels, Belgium

bottled
common

on tap
available

Broad Distribution
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 Ratings  Average  Score  ABV  Style Pctl  Serve in 
5923.76/5.03.75/5.05%93.8Flute, Tumbler
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Commercial Description:
The Cantillon brewery is closely linked to Brussels, a city which has the iris as its symbol. As the name indicates, the "marsh iris" is a plant growing in humid areas. The historical center of Brussels is built on swamps where this flower used to grow abundantly.
In 1998, the Brussels Museum of the Gueuze celebrated its 20th anniversary. The Cantillon brewery decided to make a new spontaneous fermentation beer for this occasion, named after this symbolic flower.
It is a completely original beer which, contrary to the other products of the Brewery, is not brewed with 35% of wheat. The Iris, which is only made with malt of the pale ale type (giving a more amber colour to the beer) conserves the typical flavour of the spontaneous fermentation, the complex aromas and the vinous taste.
The hopping is different too. Lambic is made with 100% dried hops, for the Iris we use 50% of dried hops and 50% of fresh hops. The latter cause a superb acidity, the former, due to their tannins, enable to conserve the beer while preserving all its qualities.
After two years in the barrel, the Iris undergoes a second fresh hopping two weeks before the bottling. A linen bag, filled with hops, is soaked in the beer for two weeks. This technique, called "cold hopping", gives the beer a more intense savour and makes the smell and the taste more bitter.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 Acknud (770), Morganfield, Kentucky, USA
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/103/57/104/513/20
Mar 30, 2008  
Vintage 2005. I am still trying to get used to sour beers. Poured an orange haze with a big foamy head. Aroma is sour with a breath whiff of barnyard funk. This is sour. Every drink makes you pucker. The citrus edge comes through nicely.


 thewolf (5634), Kolding, Denmark
3.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/103/512/20
Mar 28, 2008  
Bottle, bought @ Vinens Verden, Odense.
[vintage 2003]
Pours a light hazy, deep yellow. A good, staying, albeit small, white head on top. Aroma is very musky, barnyard with some lemony freshness to it. Mouthfeel is extremely dry, it almost feels as if the beer never touches my tongue, but somehow floats a miniscule distance from my tastebuds. Flavour is not as tart as expected, the citric edge peeping through again. The dryness is extreme as well. Not terribly balanced for a lambic, I’d say.


 mvcramer (229), Arlington, Massachusetts, USA
1.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
3/104/51/101/58/20
Mar 27, 2008  
This one must be off somehow, because I can only describe it as vile. Aroma and flavors are both way off. Funk in the aroma - and not the good funk that you get from some wild yeast strains. I’ll try it again when I get the chance. I like to give brewers the benefit of the doubt, but this one is just not good at all.


 Gr0ve (1382), Oslo, Norway
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/58/104/515/20
Mar 17, 2008  
375 ml bottle. Amber colour. Somewhat hazy. Medium-sized white head. Refreshing citrusy acidic nose, but with a bold grassy hop background. Interesting balance between intense sourness and sharp pungent hops. Nice balance between the two extremes. Notes of cork and barnyard. Grassy sharp flavours. Malt richness to be found in the middle. Little aftertaste.


 eboats (887), Omaha, Nebraska, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/57/103/516/20
Mar 9, 2008  
Bottled. Pours muddy orange with a dirty white head. Aroma is sour funky barnyard, hay, straw, and some fruit. Flavor is initially dry then it switches gears to a sour followed by funk, and finally back to sour again. Leaves a lingering dry puckering sour taste in the mouth. Kind of a mellow body to it.


 OSLO (825), Perth, Australia
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/58/104/515/20
Mar 8, 2008  
[Bottle, 2004] Pours cloudy orange with an off-white head. Aroma is an explosion of funk with some sourness too. Taste is a little more balanced between the powerful sour taste and the funk. Pretty good mouthfeel. Somewhat dry, really long finish. An enjoyable beer, but I definitely wasn’t blown away by it.


 pnista (1008), Bloomington, Indiana, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/518/20
Mar 6, 2008  
Thanks for sharing this lovely beer Yaniv! Hazed yellow brown golden with a thin offwhite head. Sour biting nose. Yogurt. Tart "horse blanket"? Not the most sour nose, but very sour with a nice full roundness lacking from most lambics. Not necessarily thin or thick or middling, but just right. Low carbonation. Big sour beer! Sharp bite, but not close to unbearable or extreme. Tannic. Some floral hops seem to linger. Not a ton of esters, more round, which is nice. One of my favorite lambics!


 hiddenvariable (194), pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/57/104/516/20
Mar 3, 2008  
bottle, "vintage 2004", bottled in 2006, consumed march 2008. pours a hazy darkish peach color, with a medium white head that fizzes quickly to a film. the cantillon yeast smell just oozed off while it was poured, this is going to be good! smell is a complex combination of musty lemon, orange, grapefruit, oak, funk, apricot, white wine, and honey malt, all with a rather sharp acidic kick to it. taste is acidic white whine, lemon and orange, oak, and funk, but it doesn’t last too long, because a biting, pucker-inducing sourness kicks in and almost immediately assaults your tongue. there is a hint of sweetness there, and a lingering oaky peach citrus flavor sticks around after the sourness dissipates. thin and kind of watery mouthfeel, with virtually no carbonation, pretty light body. i still prefer the bubbliness of a gueuze to the thin palate of an unblended lambic, but there’s no denying that this is a tasty beverage. it’s a funky citrus assault, and is wholly enjoyable.



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