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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 
5913.76/5.03.75/5.05%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?  
 Adenila (931), Denmark
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/105/57/103/516/20
Dec 16, 2007  
First rating of the style. Nice orange look with a dense white head. Great aroma, almost like some champagne, along with minor notes of rubber and citrus. The acidity is of course high, and it increases the longer time you taste it. Really nice and interesting


 jsquire (2086), St. Marys, Ohio, USA
1.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/52/102/52/20
Dec 15, 2007  
I noticed that Lambic-Unblended was the only style I hadn’t rated even though I’ve been rating here a long time. I do not like sour beers and am afraid, but I can’t leave a list unfinished. This is a 2004 vintage out of a 12.7oz bottle. Slightly hazy orange color in the tulip with a fizzy white head. The nose includes lots of wood, honey, some of that funk but not much, and something tart. Not too bad yet. The taste is just something my palate does not get. Rotten orange peel, moldy wood, wet straw, rancid lemon juice. Just such strong flavors. Acidic and pungent. It is dry. I just do not get it. I offer this rating as a warning to people who are new to sour beers. Try it, you may like it, but be warned. This is not for everyone. God this is awful.


 BigMilly8 (374), Holiday, Florida, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/58/104/516/20
Dec 8, 2007  
From bottle - 2005 : Pours a hazy dark apricot color, with a big foamy white head. Barnyard aroma with some dulled fruits, and sourness. Taste is good, when it first hits the lips it is sour throughout the mouth, then begins to mellow after a couple seconds. A little bit of a bitter ending as well. Palate is sticky, and it is medium bodied.


 Alldaydrinker (557), Norwood, Massachusetts, USA
3.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/58/103/514/20
Nov 30, 2007  
Cantillon Friday Night Tasting Session, Providence RI
Pours a golden colour with a small white head. Nose of barnyard funk, mostly musty and slightly dull. Wood lingers in the background. Initial taste is very sour that swarms your mouth as you begin to pucker. Citrus fruits and oak are mild. Finishing with a lemon rhine bitterness that is very dry. The palate duration seems to be stopped in its place, quenching for more. Medium body and definitely interesting.


 AmEricanbrew (1747), Louisiana, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/103/58/103/517/20
Nov 30, 2007  
Bottle, 2004 vintage. Hazy orange with a fleeting white head. Big barnyard smell with cheese, citrus, and dusty hops. Taste is acidic barnyard with lemons and dry malts. Only mildly carbonated. Very good, though not as complex nor sour as some blended lambics I’ve tried, which is both bad and good.


 elektronikfagteknikerlærling (892), kbh, Denmark
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/103/513/20
Nov 28, 2007  
bottle.it has a slight murky gold color with a small head. it is very dry. there is slight sourness and some flowers as well. nice.


 boboski (1095), Alabama, USA
4.2 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/58/105/516/20
Nov 24, 2007  
Beautiful thinned lacing, soft and diminutive white head, creamsicle orange is clouded clouded by light tan yeast globules. Slow recession gives this behemoth of acidity a livelier appearance than some of its brethren. Grass tendencies rise to and spill over the brim of the glass. Beach-washed woodiness splashes into play, coerced forward by nose-tickling acids that reap the whirlwind that is dry-hopping a lambic. This is going to be crazy bitter, I know it already. Mild oak and fresh floral and vanilla tones lurk in the depths, coalescing as the lambic draws nearer room temperature. Mild barnyard and tired grain field notes seep out of the cracks in the acidic affront. Apricot, tangelo and bristling pear pulp flirt with edges of reason. An entirely new concept in the world of lambic is well-received; nonetheless I remain wary of just how powerful the impending acidity and bitterness combination may unfold in the flavor. The hop notes are a clever blend of aged and fresh, both with redeeming and offsetting qualities that serve the quest for complexity well. Alcohol is a nonfactor. This nose is tremendous and unforgettable. Bitterness is hefty indeed when the first sip passes the lips. Wood and some requisite leather pound into the palate unmercifully, but are supassed by waves of face-twisting acidity. It’s brutal, but enjoyable and oh so quenching. Sourness winds up up and punches everything out of its way whenever this seems to let up for even the slightest moment. Grassy notes are oft intercepted by herbal hints and superbly offered, seeming to ride along on top of the earthy and aged woodiness and farmhouse maltiness. The palate impact remains light because the body is light-medium and fully carbonated. Rarely does a hardcore lambic bring so much joie de vivre to the table, such bounciness melded into a brazen, tingling acid attack. The finish is highly bitter, lightly herbal, sour and funky. wood and grass linger. Delicious. Cantillon is consistently incredible - even in outlandish and eccentric expressions their beers seem methodically crushing but remain riotously fun to consume.


 cheeta (858), Langå, Denmark
1.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/103/52/102/57/20
Nov 24, 2007  
Heavy malty aroma with a complex aroma of flowers. Average frothy, white head. Fair lacing. Mostly diminishing longevity. Cloudy orange body. Harsh bitter initial flavor, and heavy bitter and sour finish flavor with a long finish duration. Light palate..



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