Cantillon Jean Chris Nomad 2011

Formerly brewed at Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Brussels, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Stem glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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Cantillon and Jean Chris. Should it really explain what is the heaven in mouth?

UPDATED: FEB 7, 2012 Bottle at Moeder Lambic Fonatinas for Paul’s celebration. Pours clear, bright gold with a medium, creamy white head. Extremely fresh, lightly grassy aroma. Light to medium sweet flavor, absurdly sweet, some fresh grass, lemony tartness. Light to medium in body with fine, creamy carbonation. Mild dry finish, quite sour but not abrasive or intense. Just exceedingly fresh. An incredibly drinkable gueuze. Awesome.

Bottle, courtesy of Jeremy, thanks dude this is one off the old bucket list. Pours a hazy glowing golden shade with small to medium white head. Aromas/Taste are ultra tart funk w/ lactic notes, wood, wine, flowers, lemon juice, grapefruit, and musty rich and earthy gueuze flavors. Medium bodied impeccable sour.

75 cl. bottle – had to try a couple of bars before I got this one – glad to have tried it, although I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t get it as a take away because I wanted to enjoy this leisurely at home – they kept saying that they had to open it there and I had to drink it on the premises because they didn’t want to see this wind up on ebay – told them that I respect Cantillon just a bit too much in order to do that but it is not like there is any way to check my claim – label looks kind of on the cheaper side of thing as some slightly rarer Cantillon tends to be, red Jean Cris label upfront & on the back some explanation, only in French – the explanation basically describes what the Jean Cris series is all about, although I am willing to bet that most people who have tried it did some more for the Cantillon than the Jean Cris name, no disrespect to the guys – it clearly states that this is an all new beer consisting of a blend of lambic of 3 different years aged on Red Bordeaux, White Bordeaux & Côtes du Rhône barrels – good until 2030 (I believe them but I don’t think that I will ever get the chance to verify this statement) – bottled on 07/01/2011 making this close to 10 months old when consumed – slightly hazy golden with almost no head, whatever there is, is very lambic-like \ smell is pretty typical Cantillon, I would say that this would somewhat reminiscent of a 1 yr old Cantillon lambic, very musty, lots of horseblanket, tart, sour lemon, decay, web-covered ancient cellars of ruins but still rather restrained \ Taste is very tart, musty, rotting & decaying with musty lemons, vinegar, lots horseblanket, even more sour & tart white grapeskins, really lots of them, sour, ancient, lots of half rotting old musty wine barrels, like someone forgot them for a century in a cellar & you are kind of licking the inside of them, hint of the gueze bitterness you usual get at the very end f the finish – definitely not an over the edge sour \ typical body \ am I insane or am I the only who isn’t getting any real wine in here which was sort of what I was expecting for? I am getting musty, sour grape skins but no more than you would regularly get from Cantillon, I am getting a lot rotting old wine barrel wood but no real wine in here, maybe I don’t know enough of wine or perhaps even geueze for that matter & I came in with the wrong expectations \ Overall great as is everything in which Jean is even remotely involved in but I don’t think that this ranks amongst the best of Cantillon, whatever interest little or big exists for this beer is not because it is the best Cantillon ever, although it is certainly an enjoyable one

750ml bottle. quiet cork pop and a slow building head from low bottle carbonation holds back the nose as we begin. the malt and wheat is semi-sweet honey and biscuit-like and the bacteria provides a mineral-rich calcium and fruit ester touch (flower petals, perfume, mild strawberry and banana). with a good swirl there’s a stronger sweet grape and berry character that makes an appearance. acid is mostly lactic and the brett seems quiet, contributing a soft mustiness and horse hair / goat quality. it seems more like berries than citrus, which the Classic shows in every batch, so I have to say the wine barrels are showing up no doubt. it’s mild enough to stay in balance with the delicate floralness of the geuze. as it opens up, touches of orange rind appear and disappear quickly; the nose seems to constantly shape-shift, changing from fruit-dominant to mineral-dominant to bacteria / must-dominant, and around and around.  low carbonation and moderate acid flush the medium-light body across the tongue with a rounded and chewy and waxy orange / citrus and tannic grape / strawberry flavor, all the while harder astringent oak tannins scorch the mouth and leave it feeling parched, stripped and abused.  the acidity is nicely tempered by the semi-sweet malt and I find that the sourness is FAR more delicate and therefore enjoyable than that of the Classic, which is always a brute. 

side-by-side with a 2011 Classic Geuze confirms it: strikingly different oak barrel and yeast character, far more soft and without the mighty acidity and lactic sourness of the classic. the wine barrel character is all over this, but perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that the strong sulfur note found in the Classic is completely absent, and that’s really what brings the Nomad to another level.

Sampled at USSkovde Hazy golden. White head. Sour aroma; elder-flowers, grapes. Tart and sour flavour. Grapes, some green apples, pine-apples. Very dry.

Sampled July 2012
A steady pour into my Bruery tulip produces a fat-finger-thick, pale, off-white colored head. The beer is a pale amber / golden hue that shows a clear, full, yellow-gold color when held up to the light. The aroma smells sharp with medicinal / sanitary notes / phenolics, slightly plastic leaning in character, but definitely musky towards the finish, as well as sort of dried weed / straw like. The tartness has notes of lemon, perhaps a touch of grapefruit, and a deep green apple note in the finish. There is a dusty, woody, sort of saw dust like oak character to this beer. There is definitely a touch of dirty foot, or perhaps mellow body musk character that is found here; it is fairly soft here, and definitely contributes positively to the nose, at least if you are into that sort of thing.

Softly acidic up front, but getting a bit more sharp as it flows across the palate, the finish has a nicely lactic-acidic bit to it that is clean. Definite notes of urea are noticeable, but smoothed out considerably by grapefruit like fruit / tart notes. This is not aggressively carbonated, but definitely has a nice effervescent bite to it that pairs nicely with the soft texture and tannic influenced structure, but ultimately this is of course an eminently quaffable brew, and just about perfect for a Gueuze. Lingering in the finish is a soft fruitiness that sort of reminds me of an oaky white wine somehow; touches of funky Sauvignon Blanc, even a hint of buttery white wine, and even the tartness helps to accentuate the soft, grape-like fruitiness. This also has some sharp, spicy oak character to it as well as a solid woody character that has a sort of toasted edge to it.

As the beer warms up the grape fruitiness and wine like character becomes a touch more noticeable, especially in the finish. The oak character, while a bit more noticeable than perhaps typical, is so well integrated and just really works quite well here.

Not quite as expressive, or sharp as the 3 Fonteinen Herfst that I just had, but this is better balanced and quite tasty; ultimately, because of the balance, and the fact that despite it not being as noticeable / expressive, this is a touch more complex, I like this beer a bit more. The balance here is really between the lactic, funky, fruit, grassy malt, and oak character is what makes this beer. This is not explicitly different from the regular Gueuze, but the touches of oak and grape that this beer has definitely add a subtle difference to this brew that might not be explicitly distinguishable if you didn’t know about it, but still definitely contribute to the complexity and character of this brew. I can’t help but absolutely enjoy this beer; this is a fantastic Gueuze, one which I almost feel guilty for enjoying as much as I do. The texture of this beer is really quite wonderful, soft, somehow creamy, with a nice effervescence (that is accentuated by the lactic biting tartness), and just so quenching and quaffable.

Bottle at Theis and Mette’s sour+ tasting. Pours a hazy golden with a white head. Sweet and tart. Aromas of berries and cask wood. Bit like the regular gueuze but softer. Medium bodied. Soft carbonation. Fresh and floral.

Nomad is a special beer made exclusively for the Mi-Orge Mi-Houblon beer store in Arlon, Belgium and for Jean Chocolatier, also of Belgium. This is the third in a series of beers made under the JeanChris label (Jean from Jean Chocolatier and Chris from Mi-Orge). Chris was directly involved in selecting the barrels of lambic at Cantillon that were used in this gueuze blend. As with other Cantillon gueuze blends, Nomad includes 1yr, 2yr and 3yr old lambic but the proportions used are different in Nomad. I was told that the typical Cantillon gueuze blend is about 17% of 3 year old lambic but in the Nomad they used 33% of 3 year old lambic. The beer poured a vibrant gold color with a touch of cloudiness and a slight white head that disappeared after a few moments as expected. The aroma of Nomad is musty/earthy, a bit funky with a slight hint of some woody notes and citrus. All the fingerprints of a fantastic Cantillon gueuze. The taste is very pleasing. A nice lemon bite on the tongue but not as acidic as a classic Cantilon gueuze, there is more of a rounded edge to Nomad but yet a more complex taste I believe, some woody notes which I don’t typically get in a Cantillon gueuze. I think this comes from the fact that 33% of Nomad is made up of 3 year old lambic as opposed to a classic gueuze which is around 15-20% of 3 year old lambic. I think the higher % of old lambic lends a more balanced taste. Overall I think Nomad is a very well balanced and well thought out gueuze. Refreshing with a nice dry finish but it still approachable, especially for those that can’t always handle a very acidic gueuze which this is not. Nomad is definitely worth seeking out.

75cl Bottle @ Really late Summer Tasting Ulfborg, 2012. Pours cloudy orange with a small white head. Barnyard, leather, brett, funk and oak. Leaning more towards the typical 3 Fonteinen stuff. Lovely!