 FatPhil (2063), Espoo, Finland
Mar 31, 2008
750ml bottle (Kaisla, Helsinki)
Deep red, small tight head. Sour cherry aroma, also tart sourness. Sharp in the mouth, slightly puckering. Very pleasant sourness, buttery and tasty mellow cherries. Not particularly sweet at all, which is nice. Woody and estery - some heavy phenols. In fact there’s smoked port snack sausages in there!
smith4498 (332), Miami, Florida, USA
Aug 19, 2008 Vintage 2005. Pours reddish pink with pink head. Aromas of cherries and sour funk. Flavor is tart cherries that puckers my mouth. Light to medium body with lively carbonation and a dry finish. Excellent!
Stine (1320), St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
Aug 17, 2008 Vintage 2005; bottled 2005. A bloody red pour, thick and silty, with a frothy pink foam making it seem lighthearted, if only for a moment. Stable and cheese aroma with a fat cherry skin sweetness. A hint of brown sugar and a brazen dry wood tannin presence to balance the funk, briefly; but, the musty cave and farm aromas tend to outlast the characters of the malts and fruit, in minerals, gouda rind, a funky blend of mildew and cinnamon, and rotten fruit. The sharpness and foulness it shows is arresting, but it seems a little young yet; many of the older Cantillons in my memory are notably more settled in the nose, allowing the nuances ample spotlight but filtering them through a laid-back smoothness. That’s really a very small complaint, though; the seabreeze saltiness and peppery briny qualities are forceful, and characteristically attention-commanding.
Flavor is more notable for its splintery wooden dryness than for its sourness. And it’s a barren flavor; not an oaken sweetness or a spirit-imbued depth, but a harsh, dirty, rotten wood in rainwater kind of woodiness. The natural acidity of the lambic and fleshy qualities of the cherry engender a hugely tannic, almost blood-textured wine-like impression. The spice of cinnamon resting on apples, cherries, and blood oranges provides a lovely sweetening dust, momentarily, before a veritable flood of balsamic vinegar washes over it and suffocates it unmercifully, and with malice. The wooden bitterness creates a hard complimentary flavor to the wild acidity of the cherries, and it really composes itself well, if certainly with a somewhat harrowing countenance.
Body is incredibly full while being quite lean. Firmly carbonated, staunch and tight, and enamel-eating in acidity, though the thickness of the malt and cherry characters is somewhat more prominent than the more simple acidity often found in a flanders red or a gueuze. Finishes in a clinical harshness of vinegar, cheese and blood, with extreme puckering length. Again, the Cantillon expression of the style, especially when comparably young, is one of naked exposure to the wilderness in all its violence and glory. It’s memorable, and it’s monumental.
JohnQPublic (147), Brooklyn, New York, USA
Aug 16, 2008 Bottle into flute. Pours a dark red, with no head to speak of other than a faint rim of light pinkish bubbles around the edge of the glass. Aroma really sings with sour cherries, rich and tart, a bit dry. Taste is sour cherry from the beginning, dry and tart, the sharpness balanced by the very full cherry note, balanced and delicious. Because of the balance, one of the most drinkable Cantillons I’ve had. Superb.
NomDeBeer (129), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Aug 11, 2008 I taste a great deal of apples and cinnamon in this one, with sour cherries on the side. Smells the same plus funk and dry wood. Medium acidity - not as much as I expected, but that’s not at all a bad thing. Very good.
LilBeerDoctor (442), East Setauket, New York, USA
Aug 11, 2008 Bottle, vintage 2004 (bottled in 2006). Pours a cloudy red with a pretty pink head that dissipated quickly. Aroma of sour fruit, tartness, barnhouse funk, and cinnamon. Flavor of sour fruit, cinnamon, oak/wood, and apple skins. Quite tasty but this really wore on my palate after a glass. Very acidic, like many Cantillons are. Good, just hard to drink.
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