Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus

Aroma of raspberries and parts unknown (not sure, but is that CFC’s smoldering?), yeast, and floral esters. The appearance is a dark rosy color with a thin pink collar, (the bottle has a surly lad feeling up a strumpy tart. BONUS!!!). The flavor has unique flavors of tart raspberry, both vinuous and sour, almost puckering sour. Some tasty yeasts are also present. The feel is very tart right off, finishing to an ultimate sour that tempers out only after a prolonged time.

Cantillon Rose Grambinus 7/28/09 (sampled from bomber at a Wurstkuche tasting. Pours light rose color, with a wispy head. Aroma has fragrant stale raspberries, tart lemonade, farmhouse funk, and sourness. Much sourness, to be quite frank. Palate, though hardly the focus here, is medium bodied and faintly prickly, finishing semi-dry. The flavor of this framboise hits you like a train: heavy tartness/acidity that mellows with raspberry and other berry fruit flavors. Nothing sweet at all about this, which I LOVE. Cantillon has created a bold brew that invokes raspberry essence without any gimmicky or sugary sweetness. Loved this one!

Bottle - While I’ve tried several gueuzes, I haven’t had a ton of experience with lambics past the syrupy Lindeman’s, so this was something I was looking forward to. I was a bit disappointed, however. It poured nice, a deep amber rose with a small pink head. There wasn’t a lot on the nose--some sour, funky raspberry and lemon, but you had to really get your nose in there. Taste was nice, with sour raspberry and just a little barnyard funk. Finish is all sour grapefruit, though the extreme carbonation makes it a bit hard to taste. Overall I liked it, but I expected trumpets and singing from Cantillon.

Bottle at the Rake, 24th July 09. Bright red in colour. Strong sour aroma and initial taste, but quite sweet once it is on the tongue. Controlled sourness and good tart raspberry flavours. Enjoyable.

750 ml bottle. Pours a pretty clouded raspberry tinted slightly brown with an incomplete thin head head that disappeared within a minute. Pleasant aroma of raspberries, lemon and some mild funk. The flavor is brightly tart with both raspberries and lemon and just a hint of funk. Properly acidic at the finish. Lively on the palate. Enjoyable!

Bottle from brewery: Pours a beautiful pinkish red with no head. Large sour notes, fruity (raspberry and grapefruit). Sour, yeasty arouma. Drinks like a happy champagne. I like this even better than Cantillon’s Kriek. I wish I had gotten 3 more bottles.

after a super pleasant experience with a girardin framboise, i figured i better continue with a cantillon also made with raspberries. clash of the titans.. anyway. 75 cl bottle 2004 on the cork. all by myself while wathcing a taped lecture on string theory and quantum physics. orange faded reddish color, small white head. aroma is stable, not much discernible fruit in there, but lots of sour, leather, stable etc. quite typical cantillon aroma. flavor is quite citric, excessively dry, but still the flavor is refreshing and you get hints of fruits rounding off the dry citric sourness. palate is prickly and very nice. overall the impression is of concentrated fresh lemon juice (no added water), with stuff added for breath and depth. grapefruit, raspberries primarily.

Just wasn’t a fan of this at all. Mauve colored pour with a small ivory head. Aroma and flavor exhibit tart raspberry, barnyard funk, lemon peel, and vinegar. This one had the incredible mouth-puckering sour quality but lacked any real depth that I’ve had with the more exceptional examples of the style. Medium mouthfeel.