Cantillon Iris

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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..

Bottle: Iris 2005: Clear light red colour, nice white head. Aroma of fruits,citric, sournes, and a nice balnced with a nice fruity sweetnes, and a nice citric nose. Flavor is almost the same, but has a kind of smokey(?)fruity endig. Thin to medium body, and a thin to medium finish. Nice Lambic!!

Pours deep gold into a Tumbler. Fluffy white head with medium retention leaves no lacing as it recedes. Sour funk aromas. Sharp feet with a lasting grapefruit rind finish.