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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?  
 glkaiser (1150), Seattle, Washington, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/57/103/517/20
Nov 25, 2006  
Cloudy golden. Wonderful sweet aroma. Very nice...Very bitter start mellows quicly. Lots of hops in this.


 Papsoe (14642), Frederiksberg, Denmark
3.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/57/103/515/20
Nov 23, 2006  
(Bottle 75 cl) Slightly hazy amber golden with a tiny, off-white head. Fresh but rather mellow acidity in the aroma. Medium body and very dry but with a - for Cantillon - subdued sourness. None of the real dirty horse sweat notes either. 291006


feedmec00kies (49), New York, New York, USA
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/57/103/515/20
Nov 13, 2006  
shared with puzzl. light amber color, with yeasty, damp wood-y funkiness, some citrus (more like the oils from the peel) and some winey type things in the aroma. flavors: damp wood, wine-like, and sour, especially a very definite grapefruit flavor; it doesn’t just have that bitter grapefruit flavor that some more hoppy beers sometimes do, but it also has that acidic, slightly sweet grapefruit flavor as well. a little bit of pomegranate (esp. the seeds) perhaps in the aftertaste as well. dry. at first i couldn’t really handle this beer (flavor-wise it seemed to come on really strong at first, and there was some really irritating tingly feeling/taste at the front of my tongue that really bothered me when i first sipped it), but it’s been growing on me.


 puzzl (2579), New York, New York, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/103/515/20
Nov 13, 2006  
Once again, I’m glad td these lambics are fully fermented out, because upon (very very carefully!) pulling the cork, I sprayed beer all over the room. Luckily, I hardly had to clean anything, as there is no stickiness!

2000 bottle, big pop, a ton of fizz. The cork was quite damp, luckily they cap and foil too, so no oxidation had taken place. Aroma is slightly vinous, good sourness, a very slight hint of citrus, light funk. A little dead in the mouth, despite the gushing, this could use more carbonation... it tastes near still. Flavor is good mellow sourness, though not refined and gentle as other mellow sours I’ve had. It still has that distinct, slightly metallic Cantillon sourness, though.

Bottle from my Secret Santa, thanks!


 after4ever (2711), Brier, Washington, USA
1.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
5/102/53/102/56/20
Nov 12, 2006  
Draft at the Dog and Pony. Wow, sorry everyone who likes this. This is just so totally overbearing. Pours a medium brownish amber with little head and zero carbonation. Overhwhelmingly sharp and tart lemony, acidy nose. Same for the palate. Almost undrinkable.


 bitbucket (2026), Kirkland, Washington, USA
2.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/54/103/511/20
Nov 11, 2006  
On tap a the Dog and Pony in Renton. I’ll probably come around to this style, and appreciate the "superb acidity" but not tonight. I commented to the bartender that I didn’t like the lemonade so much. She was concerned that someone had hooked lemonade up to the taps.


 Egon (392), Gothenburg, Sweden
3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/103/55/103/513/20
Nov 10, 2006  
Bottle. Not as sour as Grand Cru but you can fin the fruit there. A bit low key.


 dwyerpg (2519), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
4.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/520/20
Nov 6, 2006  
Beer 14 of the tasting. This has quite a bit of bite, not as much as the Hannsens. A simpler lambic in complexity, it seems fairly smooth as well. Good stuff. Love that sour bite.



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