Cantillon Iris

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Unblended
Brussels, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Stem glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Bottle for #400 courtesy of Rudolf. Another new style. Pours with a nice off-white head. Great lacing. Color is orangish with hints of red/pink, slight haze. Aroma is both sweet and tart, some floral notes. This just about makes you pucker at the end of a long sniff. Sweet malt is quickly overpowered by sour and tart. Like biting into a grapefruit rind. Interesting, not something I would drink everyday but a style I would enjoy drinking once or twice a year.

750ml bottle, corked and capped. . Amber in colour, lasting by thin and sparse head. Aroma has many complexities, sour, acidic & woody. Flavour is like a conventional lambic, except perhaps with a little more body, woody and very sour, also fairly bitter, very high on acidity. Very, very nice, but like most Cantillon the sourness gets overpowering. Rating dedicated to John Peel, who died today

UPDATED: FEB 14, 2006 2000 bottle sampled Oct. 2004. Well I enjoyed half of the bottle and my friend’s sink, counter, floor and stove top enjoyed the other half. I should have known when I put the corkscrew in and the cork began to remove itself, but what could I have done (got a big glass and put it below the bottle I guess). Well anyways, it erupted like Mt Vesuvias. Incredibly violent and forceful upward explosion which was quick and sad. Oh well, it’s a lambic, I’m not surprised. Anyways, this almost 5 year old lambic poured with a vigorous large, brown head (beige cardboard color, walnutshell if you will). Murky gold, deep deep copper body, with light yellow tinges on the edges. Aroma of cedar, wet sawdust, sandalwood, lots of hops, vinegar, pepper, oak, and an all around lovely walk down the country road after it has just rained. Flavor starts off with plenty of mouthpuckering tartness, though the hops bitterness adds to this and it’s not all caused by the yeast and bacteria. Apple cider vinegar, green apples, light raspberry esters with a dry malt backbone. Light sweetness lurking at the bitter end, with a sweaty, almost oily sort of lactic acid flavor. Rich cedar and oak linger long on the palate, and for an unblended lambic it’s not nearly as thin or watery as I was expecting. Rich, powerful and profound. The huge carbonation, which died off as I let this breath for a while, still provided for a peppery textured body throughout. Good stuff, but I like the consistency and chewiness of wheat in my lambics. If I had to pinpoint my dislikes here, which were few, it would be the lack of a truly "chewy" texture, but the beer is still superb in its own right.
On draught at Redbones, August 2005 Actually, I had it on draught at Anam Cara about a month ago too, but that sample was in terrible shape and quite oxidized. This one proved much more fresh, hoppy, tart and rustic. BUT, it still is too loose in texture for me. I think this stuff is probably better a little bit younger, where the beautiful hoppiness and a bit sweeter flavor, as has been confirmed, in my mind, by my samples of younger bottles, still exists.
2005 bottle consumed 2/9/06. Very quenching, fruity, acidic and with a large amount of pediococcus in the middle, ending more drily on a lactic note. Lots of green apples in both flavor and aroma, very musty, cheesy, lightly tannic and just overall, bursting with flavors. My biggest complaint, though it’s not as evident in this sample, as in some of the older ones, is that the beer is a bit watery and the mouthfeel looser than it should be (to convey the sourness and even the hops).

Bottled: Orange coloured. Surprisingly it has an off white very small head. Dosn’t last long, but its there. Has light earthnotes in the aroma and is dominated by citrus. Some spices are there. Flavour is very citric and sour. Sourness is balanced by a light fruitsweetness. Is fresh and grapish in the end. Very nice thirstquencher.

Hazy , rusty amber. Dense, fluffy off-white head. Interesting floral, malty, barnyard aroma w/ lemons, sharp cheese, pepper, & oak. Light, acidic, highly carbonated feel. Well-balanced, complex, lemony tart, malty, vinous flavour w/ notes of sharp cheese, pepper, salt(?), wood (oak) & tea (hemp?). Dry finish. Very unusual beer.

1998 Edition. Slightly cloudy reddish-brown offering. Hoppy at first then malty, then floral and earthy with sour vinegar hiding there too. Pretty varied aromas and flavours - quite gueuze-like. Finishes bitter and sour - no tart - no sour - ah I never know which is which when I’m enjoying a good beer. This was my first unblended lambic and I definitely need to try it again.

PURE MALT LAMBIC VERSION 1998 (tasted 03 & 04): Beautiful caramel malt nose. The caramel malts were super fresh and very rich in the taste. Chocolatey with only a sticky-sweet & sour end. Very unique hoppiness at the very end as well.Superb. 2002 vintage sampled in 2004 was even maltier and drier at the finish. I tried a barrel sample that was not dry hopped and found it to be grainy and rough in the middle. The sourness at the finish was more pronounced and harsh. 1998 bottle proves to be near perfect, opened in September 2004...Sweet and sour, vinous, all at once. Gone is the horseblanket and in it’s place a grassy bitterness, like a Saison at first sip, but vinous and acidic, finishes dry and grassy. amazingly smooth with an underlying complexity that leaves me scratching my head in awe!

UPDATED: AUG 29, 2005 Hazy golden color, light acid aroma, heavy acid taste, medium body, dry finish. 2-3-1-3-4 Re-Rate. Iris Vintage 2000. Copper colour with a white head. Acid wood, fruity aroma and a acid sour sharp dry taste. Medium to full body and a sour dry finish. 3-4-2-4-4

Aroma is very dusty/earthy and oaky, yeasty. Cloudy, orange-yellow coloured with a lasting white head. Taste is tart... oaky an dusty, quite bitter for a lambic. Winey and sweet. Dry... palate. Exceptionally great aroma.

Bottle pours a translucent orange, large foamy off-white head, good carbonation, with decent lacing.   Sweet dry pixie dust candy type aroma, with hints of Tang, freshly cut wood, and vinegar.   Up front there is a strong sourness, slightly vinous, with heaps of freshly cut wood (oak perhaps).   Good body, medium mouthfeel.   Finishes strong, all at the front of the tongue, nothing in the back.   Slightly dry, lingering sourness and wood chips.   Very interesting for my first "Unblended".