RateBeer
Score
9997
OVERALLStyle
Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium
Serve in Flute, Tumbler

bottled
common

on tap
common

Broad Distribution

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RATINGS: 864   WEIGHTED AVG: 3.8   EST. CALORIES: 150   ABV: 5%
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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.


3.8
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 3/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
mgumby10 (1856) - Jupiter, Florida, USA - AUG 5, 2007
Pours a cloudy gold with a medium white, bubbly head. Smells of big acidity and sour fruits. Just what you wouldexpect from these guys. The taste was much the same, very acidic and sour on the palate, but with a nice dry finish. Lemons and other citrus were detectable. Maybe a little bit of some floral flavors, but what was there was masked by the huge sourness. I love these guys brews.

3.9
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
kkearn (1163) - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - AUG 5, 2007
UPDATED: AUG 11, 2007 Small bottle, and Tria’s new location (12th and Spruce, Philly) and resampled at Stephen Beaumont class at Tria Fermentation School 8/10/07. Orange amber color, no head when initially poured; swirling produces a small amount of off-white bubbles. Nice woody, lactic aroma with some hops; not quite as sharp and aromatic as I remember some other Cantillons. Flavor is tart, woody, earthy and citric. Long lasting hop finish. A nice experiment from Cantillon.

4.4
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 10/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 18/20
Floback (446) - Naples, Florida, USA - AUG 2, 2007
Courtesy of Alan at Knightly Spirits. I tried for two weeks to sit on this bottle; I couldn’t help but try it. Pours orange-gold with a white rim, no head, and elusive lacing. Bubbles are effervescent. Slight vinegar, past-ripe oranges, and sour yeast on the nose. Whooo...sour to all hell. The taste is biting on the nose and tongue...the whole mouth, actually. You can feel it all the way down until it hits the stomach acids. Hues of citrus, small herbs, oak, and always sourness. ALWAYS. The aftertaste lingers hard and the palate is bombarded. This brew is appropriate for my fluted Cantillon glass. (Thanks again Alan.) Very satisfying beer.

3.9
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 17/20
Proteus (98) - FINLAND - AUG 1, 2007
Hazy yellow beer with a nice and rich head but fades away like in most lambics. Aroma of citrus, flowers and some cellar comes out. A bitter taste and the fresh hops gives it a nice touch. Has a dry finish and leaves an oak touch on the palate. A pleasant lambic, that could benefit from some time in the cellar.

3.7
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 16/20
Lowe1983 (1246) - Dayton, Ohio, USA - JUL 28, 2007
Pours a orangish color with a white head. Aroma wasn’t really pleasent. I usualy enjoy the aromas of unblended lambics but not this one. Lots of sourness, oak, citrus, and yeast. Flavor starts out not as good but the more you drink the better it gets. Everything on the aroma is present in the flavor with some grass flavors and a nice tart finish, but not too tart. Overall, minus the aroma, this is a very delicious brew.

4.1
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 17/20
JB175 (1665) - Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA - JUL 22, 2007
2004 bottle. Light golden-orange color with a white fading head. Aroma has some nice sourness, wood, and sharp citrus. Flavor is a nice sour/acidic citrus with just a hint of wood, some vinous/wine flavors, and a nice sour feel. A nice Lambic that is smooth, tart and enjoyable.

3.2
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 6/10   PALATE 2/5   OVERALL 13/20
larsga (4661) - Oslo, NORWAY - JUL 20, 2007
Small offwhite head. Hazy, amber body. Soft metallic hoppy aroma with the typical grainy, wooden metallic lambik aroma in the background. Sour, bitter metallic grainy lambik taste with strong grassy metal hop notes. Bitter, sharp metal aftertaste with intense lingering grassy hop taste. The hops round out the usual intense one-dimensional lambik character a bit. Nice. (0.375l bottle from gr0ve.)

3.4
   AROMA 6/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 14/20
BrockLanders (759) - Panama City, Florida, USA - JUL 20, 2007
Bottle. BIG pillowy white head....can hardly see the brew beneath. Color is a hazy amber orange hue. Don’t care too much for the aroma....the sourness really grabs you....yeasty and citric all the way. Flavor is fairly tart and fruity...the sourness is what this brew is about. Dry in the end with a citrus edge that was evident during the entire glass. Not my style, but interesting anyway.

4.1
   AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 16/20
JFURYCAT (1007) - East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA - JUL 15, 2007
Bottle at River St. Ale House which I split with some buds. Pleasantly sour with all the palatte cleansing tongue sucking I’d ever desire with some horse leathery citrus flavors and wood in there. The sourness is here but its not overdone, just right.

3.7
   AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 7/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 15/20
gunnfryd (7042) - Kristiansand, NORWAY - JUL 14, 2007
Bottle. Golden/ Orange colour with an off-white head.. Aroma is sour, apple, yeast, grapefruit. Flavour is sour, apple, yeast, cellarnotes, citrus. nice beer.


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