Cantillon Soleil de Minuit

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

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

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I love this. Hazy deep orange coloured. Probably the best aroma ever in a beer. It is really hard to remove your nose from the glass. Huge aroma of fresh cloudberries. Even though the beer is now seven years old the aroma has not changed much becoming less fruity as in most fruit lambics. Very acidic and complex flavour with lots of citrus and cloudberries present.

Bottle no.50, courtesy of and shared with Per, ENORMOUS THANKS! Hazy, almost misty amber body, small white head that went away fast. Full cloudberry blast in the nose mixing with some Cantillon funk. Very nice. Probably the most clearly pronounced fruitiness that I’ve tried in a Cantillon so far, strong hjorton definitely. The acidity isn’t excessive. Oh fuck yeah. Special stuff.

Murky orange-brown. The cloudberries are still very present after all these years and have aquired a very "ripe" and exclusive flavour. There is a light funkiness and stableness, a little tart. It is extremely dry in the end, with a very cheekdrying effect. It manages to be incredibly complex and very simple at the same time, a feature which few beers reach. A great beer, it’s sad that it will probably never be made again.

UPDATED: FEB 13, 2011 Tried it a second time, and it is totally spectacular. Probarbly the best in the world. Cantillon Soleil de Minuit (årg. 1999). Vilken fantastisk doft den hade. Fina aromer och en smak som trots sina 10 år fortfarande är mycket bärig. Ölen var ganska syrlig och hade en eftersmak som måste vara något av det bästa jag har känt någon gång. Det var lite vemodigt att tömma de absolut allra sista dropparna.

UPDATED: AUG 4, 2010 Soleil de Minuit is a simple lambic, really --

There are the cloudberries, slightly sweet, somewhat tart, but still fresh after eleven years in the bottle. Then comes the lambic, easily recognizable as Cantillon - ripe socks, yellow woodsorrel, and antique armoires. The whole thing goes down with a champagne consistency.

-- and since this was available only in magnums, that came in handy!

Bottle shared with Hirigalzkar, Gyllenbock and other Stockholm beer blog celebrities. Great brew with taste, aroma and mouthfeel of cloudberries. Sweet and fresh despite the age.

75 cl bottle at Akkurat in July 2010. (vintage 1999) In my youth I spent a lot of time in Lapland. Grandma’s cloudberry jam was fantastic, cloudberries are the gold of Lapland. Cantillon Soleil de Minuit was without doubt one of the best beers I have ever tasted, truly an amazing experience. Wonderful aroma and taste of cloudberries, It was difficult to understand that the beer could still taste so much cloudberry. Very sour despite its age, long aftertaste. It was propably the last bottle ever sold at Akkurat. Wow!

Bottle @ Akkurat. Pours orange, no head. I’m impressed with the fruitiness in the aroma, as I would have expected the agening to have taken some edge off it. Enormous sweet cloudberry aroma! Some sour blackcurrant seeds are there in the background. Taste is very sour, but also very fruity. A small bitterness in the end. Not the most complex fruit lambic, but very, very fruity and the sweetness balances the usual sourness in a perfect way. I just love cloudberries!

1.5L bottle, shared at Akkurat on Sept 25 09 with my cousin, ggaughan. 1999 Vintage. The bottle arrived covered in dust, with a very small label on the neck.
Pours straw to golden color, with a slight haze. The off-white head begins one-finger thick, and gradually fades to a thin ring that persists to the last sip. The tart berry aroma is fairly intense and can be picked up from a few feet away. Tart berries take the forefront, and are nicely complimented by lemon, wheat, earth and a firm lactic backbone. The flavor was moderately tart and fairly acidic, with the cloudberries integrating quite nicely with the gueuze. Lemon, brett, and earthy character compliment the tartness and add depth. The berry character clings to the soft palate for a lengthy finish, and seem to become more pronounced as they linger. This was a great experience, and one of the biggest highlights of my beer travels.

I have been waiting to try this beer for so long and was dissapointed to find they did not have 75cl bottles of this at Akkurat when I visited in August 2008. On a return trip in September 2009 my cousin krkearney and I split a 1.5 litre magnum of it ourselves! Vintage 1999. The beer poured a slight hazy golden color with a 1/2 inch head. Bottle appeared flat as there was no pop when the cork was removed but there was definite life left in the bottle. The nose had a very unique and interesting berry character. A bit tart as well. The taste had a strong tart and acidic character. Lovely berry notes, a bit of wood and pepper in the background. The cloudberries are very present in this beer and make for a fantasticly unique beer.

Bottle 75cl. [ Vintage 1999 ].
Unclear medium yellow orange color with a average to large, frothy, good lacing, fully lasting, white to off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy barnyard, gastric acid, wet yeast, cloudberry. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet, heavy acidic and bitter, vinegar, and heavy sour with a long duration, dry and very sour finish. Body is light to medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft - flat. [250908]