Cantillon Saint Lamvinus

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

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UPDATED: FEB 11, 2012 nuts, floral, red, cloudy, brown foam, heavy cloying, medium bitterness, heavily sour, full body, thick feel, long finish, raisin, cough drop, minimal head, light sweetness, long finish,

2008 bottling, pours a reddish brown, almost copper with no head, just a light fizz on top. The nose is pure funk. There is a reaso that Cantillon suggests you drink the fruit lambics within three years and that is to maximize on the fruit. However, I love the funk so I am fine with letting the fruit go. The nose has cheese, dirt and leather. The flavor runs you through the gambit, starts sweet and maintains a degree of sweetness throughout, while saltiness and bitter hit you in the middle followed by a grandios sour exit that leaves you puckers for a bit. I love this style. Mouthfeel is very light, super fizzy for a beer that didn’t have much head. I love this beer the older it gets. Glad I could finally rate it.

75 cL bottle from Beers of Europe, poured into an Affligem glass. Light red wine colour, with a short burst of fizz and then the head calmed down. Deep red fruit aroma, but also vinegar acidity. Drinkable, but not particularly exciting. Still, its decent.

750 ml from Brewery Creek. What a rich lipstick color, like homemade raspberry jam. Small pink beige head. This color is seductive. The aroma is pungently poopy, and at first several sips the diaper is overwhelming other nice stuff. Penetrating beneath the poop, I first find cheese rinds. So it doesn’t look good so far. I have to patiently search for the nice lambic character, the dried cranberry and the nutty malts. The resin, and retsina. As it sits, the dark wine-infested infected old wood character emerges more. It’s certainly compelling enough to drink a lot of. The palate is nice, and it’s all up hill from there. Soft and gentle with a high degree of acidity. Lively carbonation but soft on the mouth. The finish is for me good, lots of straightforward dryness and acidity. It’s a very astringent beer. Very little fruit character but does have a nice lingering pure cereal aftertaste. Lots of resin and turpentine in the finish too. Although I was expecting more (it’s amazing how a 4.1 is a low score for a Cantillion), this is still highly drinkable, offering an opportunity to contemplate the assault on the senses, and hitting the lambic g-spot.

Bottle. Dark red color with a reddish colored head on it. Smell is fruity, tart, and full of red wine notes. Taste is sour but not too sour, with a lot of red wine flavors and tannins in it. Taste like a glass of wine with carbonation. Very smooth, very good, and very expensive. As an occasional thing, this beer was fantastic.

750mL bottle, split 4 ways, pours an opaque purplish dark red with virtually no head. Aroma is intense sourness, loads of funk, dry unsweetened rotting grapes and yeast. Flavour is very puckering in sourness, with loads of very tart, dry red grapes, lots of barnyard funk, no sweetness, and red wine qualities. Very complex, dry, intensely sour and drinkable. Delicious

Served on-tap at Monk’s on Zwanze day. This is the 2008 version. A - Pours murky purple/red with a very small film of white head, dissipating down to nothing at all, leaving little to no lace down the glass. S - Smells of acidic sourness, musty basement funk, merlot grapes; from the skins to the pulp, it is all in there; and some dry oak tannins. Smells like a funky merlot. T - Starts off with quite a bit of sharp acidic sourness slowly giving way to a mix of juicy merlot grapes and their skins, damp earth, musty barnyard funk, dry oak tannins, and some faint fruity twang at the very end. The finish is a mix of dryness and sourness, lingering for some time. M - Medium body and flavor with moderate carbonation. Sharp, vinous, feel with plenty of pucker that lingers through the finish. This is quite complex, yet very enjoyable. O - I enjoyed my glass of this one. Sometimes the combination of funk and grapes doesn’t always work but it really does here. Yet another winner from Cantillon.

This is the best Lambic that Ive had the pleasure to try. Poured from a 750 bottle into a tulip glass. Aroma is powerful grapes and a really nice spicy funk. Taste is light sweetness with amazing grape flavors and a really nice tart bite that isnt overpowering. Im grapeful to have gotten to try this one...

big big grape flavors. Huge tart and little funk. So far the best balance of Everything.

Bottle of the 08 at the Cuvee de Castleton release. Pours a ruby tinged garnet with a thin white head. Soft Cantillon funk on the nose, toast, fruit. Funky toast, acid. Big sour lemon, fruit, funk. Sour acid, long lingering lemon notes with more supple fruit.