Cantillon Cuvée Des Champions

Purchased at La Bodega in midtown Anchorage. Cork reads 2009.

Pours a slightly hazy yellow with some light orange highlights and good carbonation. The head rises pretty quickly, but turns to a skim and ring around the glass pretty quickly and leaves mediocre at best lacing.

Nose is full of green apple and lactic armpit. Some good lemony zest and slight spicey oak notes.

Wow. This is an excellent lambic. Excellent. Very large green appley awesomeness. A great lemon zest spritz and oaky dryness. The finish is exceedingly dry with the perfect amount of sourness. Very refreshing, green apples linger into the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel is pretty damn solid. Very spritzer-like carbonation, exactly where it should be for the style, almost like a champagne yeast was used. The dryness is exquisite.

Drinkability is hard to beat for the style. Very refreshing, and incredibly easy to drink.

Overall, this is one of the best lambics ive had in a while. The green appleyness almost rivals that of Ithaca Brute (almost). Can't wait to see how this does with some age. The Drinkability is downright amazing right now. Certainly one of the best lambics on shelves. Great, great beer.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-12-2009 06:03:15 | id: 1036363

A 2009 bottle.

A: Pours a cloudy golden/orange color. At first a two finger white head forms, but recedes in a second. Some lace is left behind.
S: Barnyard funky aromas and some yeast. There is a fruity tartness of apples, pears, and grapes but it is not overbearing. Floral and grassy hops with some citrus aromas. Some Dry wood, biscuit and crackers. This is great.
T: Again, this is just awesome. Funky barnyard flavors and yeast again. The perfect amount of sour and tartness with apple skins and grape tannin flavors. Some lingering hop flavors that are great. Grassy and floral with some citrus flavors. Not nearly as vinegary as some of the other Cantillon beers. Maybe that is due to this not being as old as some of their other beers I have had.
M/D: A medium body with the perfect amount of carbonation for the style. Crisp, very dry, and refreshing. This is incredibly smooth to drink. There is a lighter vinegar and acidic flavor here, and that makes it so easy to drink.

I really do like the mouth puckering vinegary and acidic lambic that this brewery is known for, but that can get a little grading after a hole bottle. There are still plenty of funky flavors, sourness, and tartness here. All in all a a great beer that should not be missed.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-07-2009 03:39:13 | id: 1032615

750ml bottle served in my Allagash tulip. Poured an orange-gold with a quarter inch bright white head with a slightly hazy clarity. Nose was citrus, cork and some french oak. Taste was citrus and a little woody. Mouthfeel was medium-light with some tartness up-front and a consistent background effervescence. Tartness stimulates the salivary glands in the cheeks towards the latter half, before culminating in a slightly dry finish. Nice sour - not over the top and really quite drinkable for the style.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-02-2009 00:33:33 | id: 1029018

Thanks Deaconbluez!

Pours a hazy golden orange. About two inches of white foamy head.

Smells like sadness. LOL. I crack myself up. Actually, faint wisps of grass and hay, along with a familiar funky lemon/vinegar smell.

Taste is surprising. Really not like any of the other Cantillons I've had. A weird spicy, musty, funky herbal lemon thang that's really exotic. Hm. The funk and sour notes are blended with this strange background.

Interesting. Not particularly drinkable. Well carbonated, particularly considering the style.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 11-01-2009 08:36:48 | id: 1028504

Certainly wish I'd picked up more than one bottle of this while it was available locally...

Pours a hazy glowing pale copper with a frothy white head that leaves little lacing and holds nicely around the edges.

The aroma is really what makes this beer for me (well, it's gorgeous in the glass, too)... layers of fruity funk, peaches and maybe a hint of grapefruit, grassy, herbal barnyard notes and a lemony sharpness.

It's actually just ever so slightly disappointing on the palate... there's a specific flaw... it's a little too bitter. Combined with the incredible dryness (expected), the hop additions are deepening the aroma pleasantly but they provide a bitter edge that when combined with the sourness lends a metallic tinge to the front half of the taste, and leaves it feeling a bit thin on the back end. This mellows a bit as it warms, and the beer really shines as an eminently sessionable, warm weather beer. Sourness is biting but it's not stomach assaulting and over-the-top (which, for the record, I love).

Perfectly carbonated, lightly spritzy without feeling fizzy. Just a knock of a hit as it is initially perceived as a tad thin (when nearer room temperature this fades).

Despite not completely falling in love with how this sits on the tongue, its beauty, its jaw-dropping aroma, and the simple drinkability of it make it an instant favorite that I'd like to buy in quantity for those times when the mood for a sour hits but I'm not looking for something over-the-top.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 10-31-2009 23:16:54 | id: 1028166

Had this one at Gingerman out of a Snifter

A: Poured a fluffy white filmy head with very little retention. Brew itself was light orange and semi-cloudy with absolutely no lacing.

S: Sourdough, bready, citrus, and faint alcohol.

T: Extremely tart in the beginning but fades into a grassyness. Hops appear in the end as does the sourness. Bitterness in the aftertaste lingers extremely long.

M: Medum bodied and coarse, finishes wet and clean with a very strong and memorable aftertaste. Feeling left in mouth is oily.

D: Rather drinkable but this one tastes more like a sour than anything else. Building of bitterness in the end takes away from overall enjoyment though.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 10-27-2009 20:30:21 | id: 1025372

Many thanks go out to FTownthrowdown for sharing - thanks, man! I'm a fan of any Cantillon brew, so let's see how this goes...

Pours a thin, dull yellow with brownish highlights. An average 1/6th inch head rest above with the occasional spotty lacing spots. No active carbonation can be seen after the pour.

Smells like funked out socks and stilton cheese. Richly pungent and nasty. Wow...

Mouth carbonation is surprisingly high... The flavor is similar to the nose... I get skunk, bitter cheese and a fresh, green hops feel in the end.

Very interesting, unique and enjoyable.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 10-11-2009 20:33:44 | id: 1014306

Thanks to FtownThrowDown for sharing this bottle.

Brewed 1/07, bottled 5/09

750ml corked and capped green bottle poured into a GLBC snifter.

A: Pours a murky burnt lemon color. Decent head on the pour with a little retention. Decent lacing.

S: Loads of hops. Piney, somewhat resinous, lots of pungent lemon. Very spicy as well, helped along by the yeast. Peppery. Some tart lemon.

T/M: Lots of hops, pine and lemon, lemon zest. Very spicy and peppery. Some tart lemon and citrus tartness. Funky but hard to describe. Not really cheesy or moldy, and only light horse blanket. Funky nonetheless. Some subtle and smoothing barrel to kind of hold things togeher. Body is medium to medium light with average carbonation.

D: Low ABV and tasty but something in there that doesn't make me continue to reach for the glass.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 10-11-2009 20:30:10 | id: 1014303

Bottle picked up at Bruisin Ales on my way back home from Myrtle Beach.
Brewed in January 2007, bottled on May 2009.

Pours a very murky, light gold in color. Decent amount of froth around the edges of the glass.
Smell is oak, a good amount of funk, and just the slightest hint of hops, but not that much.
Flavor is funk and lots of it. There's just a hit of hops at the very end of each sip. Nice and different touch. Can't believe how funky this is. Can't wait to see what some age will do to this beer.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 10-11-2009 20:25:08 | id: 1014294

Pours out a nice cloudy yellow with lots of white foam gracing the top and leaving some lacing.
Smell is sour cherries and lemon zest/orange peel and a little dirty sock thrown in there for good measure.
Taste is sour cherry and orange and grapefruit. Very nice lambic.
No alcohol in the smell taste or feel. Slighty dry and sticky must mean that there is some sugar here but it's way in the back.
I could drink lots of this. Cantillon just rules the roost.

Serving type: bottle

Reviewed on: 10-10-2009 21:48:32 | id: 1013630