Cantillon Loerik

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

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

1998 Bottle: Pours yellow and fizzy. Smells of dry malt, some of the familiar sourness, lots of refined beautiful wild qualities. Taste was out of this world dry with a great tartness. Lots of the more astringent qualities found in newer Gueuzes have faded away. What’s left is one of the best Gueuzes I’ve ever had!

oh my dear lord: Pours a cloudy pumpkin color with a thin ring of head. Nose is pure FUNK. Flavors are funky, brie, funky cheese, sour, just plain sexxy..I want to live in here..i want to shove this up my nose and just smell this all day. FUNK!

Bottled in 1998.

It rests tanned, bronzed, and svelte in the glass, reeking of wood and horse fetor. Tastes like oak staves, shepherds’ crooks, and Belgian balustrades. Lemon juice in the finish, which is sharp and drying.

Speaking of finishing, this did carbonate. It has a pleasantly hefty mouthfeel. As the bottle warms, some vanilla and brown sugar fade in. An ineffably good gueuze.

750ml bottle, drank into a Cantillon glass, 1998, obtained at Akkurat. Pours a light peach, kinda of murky, light white head rises about a finger, good lacing...The aroma is awesome, just the right amount of earthy funk a little horse blanket all balanced by a touch of sweetness in the form of apricots....The taste is equally amazing, the best gueze I’ve ever had. Perfect balance of funk and sweetness that gives you the best of both worlds, the funk you are seeking and the drinkability to crush the whole bottle. This is a white whale well worth acquiring. Its simply amazing and I cannot say enough good things about it. If you like sour you will love this beer.

UPDATED: JUL 27, 2008 Incredible like everything Cantillon. Thanks to Badgerben for sharing this one. Bright orange color and cloudy. Yeasty, sour aroma with brett. Delicious, full bodied sour flavor. Incredibly smooth, and perhaps the thickest gueuze I have had, and very sour. Outstanding palate, full mouthfeel. Very sour aroma and flavor, I could smell this for a long time. I have to go with the same high score as Ben on this one.

OSLO and Guerde’s Memorial Weekend Tasting, 5/23/08. 1998 Vintage. I’m going to give slight props to Ryan and the former Cellars in Minnetonka. They had a sale about 4 years ago that provoked me into buying a lot of good Belgians, and this Loerik was one of them. I believe it was the last one on the shelf. I am very glad to have been able to pick it up and save it for such an ocassion. Also, props to Joebrew for successfully extracting the soaked cork after I had ripped out 2/3 of it. On to the beer... Cloudy dark orange color with a medium head. Slightly lemony aroma, a little wheat, moderate sourness, oak and barnyard. Holy monkey, Batman... The taste was all that and somehow more. The citrusy lemon provided just enough tartness to play with the sourness, which had evolved into a very fine sour. Earthy malt, a little caramel, fresh all-grain bread... insanely smooth. Good lord. Best Lambic I’ve ever had.

A huge thanks to badgerben for this. A cloudy orange color with a hugely sour aroma. Almost overwhelmingly sour, the body was still smooth.

750mL 1998 black foil. The pour out of the basket yields a hazy, glowing orange topped with a thin, white head. Apparently after this many years, the Loerik has come alive! Aroma is without a doubt the best aroma from just about any material derived from organic matter in the universe: incredible smack your face fresh white grapefruit, extremely fresh and fleshy/juicy Valencia oranges, white pepper, moldy citrus peels, rich peach yogurt, fleshy and overripe juicy peach, salty funk, light-fresh grapefruit heavy Brett. Literally 11/10 for aroma. The taste gives you almost a similar reward with heavy lactic sourness, fresh tropical fruits, earth, spice, leather, soft peach, maybe a hint of eggy sulfur. I sort of stopped taking notes on this one because it was obvious this would become a Top 5 beer of all time for me. Palate is perfection: wickedly lactic and yogurt heavy. It’s actually a bit unbelievable: insane amount of leather, bitterness, soft tartness, and fresh juiciness. Extremely long, cobwebby finish. Just ridiculous. It really makes Yellow Bus look a bit silly. 11/4/9/5/18 --> 10/4/9/5/19=4.7

One of the reasons I think this geuze is so outstanding is not because it is the Loerik, but simply because it is 1998 Cantillon gueuze, which I have had and loved. The Loerik certainly adds more complexity and fruitiness, but the base lambic from that year is clearly a superlative. Actually, this geuze has a lot more room to age. If you have a bottle or have access to a bottle, I would urge you to keep it for another 5 years or more and you will probably end up with the best liquid beverage ever created by man.