Cantillon Lou Pepe Pure Kriek

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Another winner from Cantillon! Bright red appearance. Sour cherries and granny smith apples dominate the flavor. A little more on the sweet side than the Framboise. The beer finish with a tart aftertaste. An excellent fruit lambic!

Alot of musky dampness pervades the aroma. This one is a little sweeter than the regular kriek. Still very citrusy sour and tart. Very dry.

2001 Vintage. Pours a rich, red magenta color with a foamy pick head. Very strong cherry smell, with hints of vinegar and wood. Beautiful looking lambic. Taste is extremely tart, dry and sour, with a lot of the dryness cherries offer after they have turned. Slightly sweet, but mostly the tartness overrides the sweet. Finish is warm and acidic. Very nice for a lambic.

Vintage 1998 bottle. Small pink head, fully diminishing, light hazy, deep red colour. Very aromatic: full aroma of sour cherry (over-ripe fruit, with juice and stone) wet wood, balsamic vinegar, wet leather, foxy. Taste is tart and dry, both lemon and balsamic vinegar sourness, with tart cherry aftertaste. Body is light to medium, dry, astringent feel on gums and the back of the tongue. A difficult beer, very complex, it is hard to understand it...

2000 bottle. Head is initially small, fizzy, pink, mostly diminishing. Body is hazy medium red, bottle conditioned. Aroma is lightly malty (toasted grain), lightly yeasty (barnyard, horseblanket), with a light note of cherry. Flavor is moderately sweet, heavily acidic. Finish is lightly sweet, heavily acidic. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation, moderately astringent. Pretty much as mildly disappointing as any other Cantillon...there's just not much to speak of in the aroma, and it's not as vibrant or balanced as equivalent lambics from brewers/blenders like Girardin and Oud Beersel. Just doesn't do anything for me.

750 ml bottle, 2001. Deep, deep red, almost purplish, big gushing dark pink head. Strong sour cherry aroma with sour apple and horseblanket hints, nice but not necessarily amazing. Flavor does not let down though, certainly quite sour but with a stronger "real" cherry taste than in any kriek I've had. Actually tastes like sucking on the skin of the best bing cherries, with a powerful oak character pushing through. Very dry, finish is shorter than in many lambics, but this might be a good thing or the sourness would be painful. Nose is getting sweeter and fuller as I continue. This bottle is a bit less carbonated than I'd like .. not much fizz as it opened; but that's about the only defect. I think I'm going to try to get a job with this brewer...

2001 vintage pours a cherry red with a pink head and lace sheets. The aroma is funky like a Lambic and cherry like. The flavor is sour, acidic, funky, waves of cherry and lemon alternate, woody, a strange lingering phantom sweetness on the top of the tongue - sour on the sides, and well balanced. Palate is nice and cleansing to make the sourness less overbearing. Overall, this is very good. I will admit, I am not much into wild yeast, but this is still quite nice.

Sticker on the bottle read 2001, but the cork said 2002. Deep magenta color with a fluffy tight pink head. Barnyard, brett, and black cherry aroma. Hints of mustiness in the aroma as well. Flavor is musty, hay, and acidic black cherries. Finishes ultra dry. Great level of sourness. Thanks to IPFreely for spliting the cost on this expensive, but delicious kreik.

The cork said 2002, the bottle said 2001. Big cherry red color, fluffy pink head. Big sour aroma, lots of cherry, leather, and oak. Flavor is shortly sweet with a big tart/sour. Plenty of cherries, lots of barnyard. Highly acidic, tingles a bit, finishes bone dry. An excellent beer shared with frielock.

Bottle of the 2001 vintage. Ruby red in color with a foamy pink head. A dusty dry cherry aroma, earthy, with hints of the sourness to come. A true step above the other Cantillon lambics, IMHO. Acidic, sour, cherry, earthy, dry, with a wood base. A true delight. What is surprising is the balance between the agressivness of the style and the ease with which it hit the palate and finished in the flavor.