Cantillon Vigneronne

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

Bouteille verte de 750 ml, avec bouchon de liège, obtenue via Importations Privées Bièropholie. Arôme: Légère odeur de vinaigre avec une pointe de pommes vertes. Apparence: La couleur est blonde. Présence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goûte de raisins Muscat légèrement acide avec une pointe de pommes vertes. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement vineuse. Faible effervescence en bouche. Arrière goût légèrement acide. (Rating #2767)

(Draught at Falling Rock Taphouse in Denver, CO) My first experience tasting a Cantillon, and on draft no less. Pours sickly green/yellow color with very little head that recedes quickly. Smell is very vinegar-like, some sour muscat grapes without much funk to be smelled here. Taste is very straightforward with the muscat grapes, sour, vinous, apple cider vinegar. Mouthfeel is under-carbonated, but not too thin. Overall this is hurt by the abundance of sourness. Good thing this was an 8oz pour as it would have been tough to finish more I think. Makes your cheeks pucker when you drink it.

’08 cork, 750ml bottle. Hazy orange/gold color with a smallish head and gentle carbonation. There is a fairly strong barnyard aroma, initially, along with some fruity lactic tartness and a nice fruitiness. The initial mouthfeel is bracing, but gentle, sourness. The flavor is a nice mix of leather and light fruits. The finish is lingering sourness. The fruit addition is subtle.

Bottle 2006 sampled Nov. 2009. Still golden pour with good clarity and a white ring of head. The aroma has that Cantillon acidity- citric, corky funk, slightly acetic- mild acetone notes and a vinous muscat character as well. Fluffy body with a sharp acetic burn. There acidity is citric as well with evident low pH. Some tart berry notes and lactic tartness. The grapes add even more tart acidity with a subtle vinousness as well. Quite acidic overall with an underlying cork character. It’s not as complex or nuanced as other Cantillon Fruit-Lambics. A bit of a disappointment. Slightly solventy.

December 2008 bottle (I’m assuming) sample #16 at 1st CST. Pours a clear straw/golden with a fine white froth. Dusty funky nostril tingling but still soft and super appealing aroma. Super sour, love the sourness, acidic, dusty, very very tangy, mouth puckering but quite sophisticated, lovely, touch of bitterness rounds it out. Fine smooth ubiquitous soft sizzling carbonation. Love it!

750 ml bottle from Green’s in Atlanta. Very reminiscent of a dry white wine in many ways, but better and more complex than most. Golden in color, bright and translucent, very slightly cloudy. A white wine body with thin foam and almost no lace. Earthy nose, grapes are certainly present but also the yeast, the combination of which makes a very nice fragrance. The flavor is tart but not as sour as I expected. Lambic up front and grapes in the finish. Very nice beer.

Bottle: Poured a bright golden yellow color lambic with a small pure with bubbly head with minimal retention and not much lacing. Aroma of horse blanket with light green apple acidity and light tart finish. Taste is a well balanced mix between some tart notes with light oak and some horse blanket and soaked leather. Acidity is well balanced but muscat grapes are hard to noticed but could have dropped the acidity level since I seem to noticed that there is less acidity then in a regular Cantillon product.

Taste is vinegar and apple cider - tart and sour with mild acidity. Excellent head retention, hazy golden color with moderate to high carbonation. Light, quaffable body that goes down smooth. Great beer.