Cantillon Zwanze 2008

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

Bottle Hazy blond body with a white head. Sour lambic aroma (barnyard). Heavily sour flavour, lightly bitter with a distinct rhubarb note.

[9/7/08] Bottle at Chez Moeder Lambic in Brussels. Hazy golden color with a white head. Aroma has the signature Cantillon barnyard quality with some citrus and only light notes of the rhubarb, especially in long sniffs. Flavor is sour, but the sourness is soft, with barnayard, nice oakiness, some citric notes, and light, subtle, rhubarb hints towards the finish as well as nice light astringency. Medium-bodied. I can’t really see how the rhubarb adds anything to the beer, although at least it doesn’t make it any less good. Overall slightly too mild but still a good Lambic.

Bottle 75cl. @ 18th Weekend of Spontaneous Fermentation, Buggenhout, Belgium.
[ As My Rating #10000 on Ratebeer ].
Clear medium to dark yellow orange color with a average to large, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is rhubarb. leather, wood, hay, barnyard, yeasty. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet and acidic with a average to long duration, dry. Very eacy and good balancede. Body is medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft to flat. [20090530]

Bottle. Shared by my cousin, ggaughan, to celebrate his brother’s wedding. Had this and an Upland Strawberry Lambic along with my mom’s strawberry rhubarb pie...what a great day.

Pours slightly hazy golden, capped with a thin off-white head. Aroma is moderately tart. Citrus, wheat and grass are the primary aromas, with faint rhubarb in the background. Flavor is fairly tart, with lemon, earth and yeast in the forefront, and just enough rhubarb to provide some additional complexity. Long, dry, tart finish. The rhubarb is subtle, but it works very well and compliments the base beer nicely.

Bottle @ Vilvordia Bierproef Festival, Jette, Brussels. Pours a slighlty hazy golden color with a small white head. Has a fruity slightly tart rhubarb aroma with some hints of citrus and some funky hints. Sweetish yet tart sour fruity rhubarb flavor. Has a fruity tart rhubarb finish with some hints of citrus.

[2281-20090616] 375mL bottle. Mild goat cheese and dry cardboard and toasted grasses aroma. Hazy, medium orange body with a medium-lasting foamy white head. Dry fruit and lots of sour yeast without the tart. Medium body is initially sour but doesn’t follow through. Really interesting! Great session beer, repeatable.
Written on bottle: "Zwanze is a typical brussels humor."
(Vintage 2008 @ beerbistro; Toronto, ON; w/ jerc)

375cl bottle at Beer Bistro, July 2009. Nose is restrained Cantillon funk - I’m unsure if that is an age thing, if their beers have been getting tamer lately, or if it is just batch variance. Whatever it is, it makes me think of Drie Fontienen as much as Cantillon. I don’t get rhubarb out of the nose as much as raspberry and blueberry along with some honey sweetness. House character again comes out in the flavor along with berries & the twang of rhubarb that lingers after the last bite of strawberry rhubarb pie. Mouthfeel is oddly heavy - not syrupy by any means but more unctuous than typical.

(750ml bottle, 2008 vintage, courtesy of MesandSim) Pours a lightly cloudy yellow body with a small white head. Aroma of pine, grass, rhubarb, grapefruit, barnyard, and earth. Flavor of grapefruit, rhubarb, vinegar, and lemon with a dry finish.