Cantillon Blåbær Lambik - Brasserie Cantillon

hopdog

Pennsylvania

4.22/5  rDev -8.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

750ml bottle shared courtesy of kramer (thanks Jason!).

Poured a darker reddish, pinkish, amber color with a smaller sized pinkish head. Aromas of funkiness, barnyard, blueberries, and yeast. Tastes of leather, funk, yeast, and tart blueberries.

I really dug the funkiness and the way the blueberries were done on this one.

Notes from and tasted on 10/7/07.

Serving type: bottle

11-04-2008 12:29:45 | More by hopdog

emerge077

Illinois

4.63/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Thanks to Jeppe for sharing this at West Lakeview! A rare treat that I never thought i'd get to try.

Served in a stemmed wine glass. Deep and vibrant blueish purple color that is just magic. Frothy, creamy foam that sizzles with a lively crackle.

Strong aroma of wet hay, like morning dew on a hay bale. Wild barn stall notes with an underlying fruity scent of the Danish blueberries. Tartness is perceptible in the nose, but it's very mellow and integrated.

Luscious berry flavor, a very savory feel, with a moderate level of sour. Not too sharp or acidic, it's vinous and just about perfect. Nice level of carbonation that gives it lightness without any distraction. Just a fantastic complex lambic that really showcases the blueberries.

Serving type: bottle

10-13-2008 01:36:44 | More by emerge077

largadeer

California

5/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

2007 vintage, 750ml bottle received in a trade from pepsican. Thanks!

Appearance: This one started to foam up as soon as the cork was removed. A gentle pour left me with a hazy blueish-purple liquid with a big pink-hued head. Lots of visible carbonation and great head retention, with chunks of blueberry skin visible in the foam.

Smell: The aroma is an unbelievable melange of sweet, ripe blueberries and Cantillon's signature farmhouse funk. The fruit's fresh, ripe smell has held up remarkably well here.

Taste & mouthfeel: Fruity up front, the unmistakable taste of blueberries shining through above even the puckering sourness. There's plenty of sourness here as well, though it's not as abrasive as some Cantillon beers. There's no sweetness, no malt to speak of; it's tart blueberries from start to finish. The bugs provide lots of depth to the flavor, but there's no distinct funkiness, as the fruit really does overpower almost everything else. The finish is dry but not overly sour or acidic, making this one of the easiest drinking lambics I've had.

Serving type: bottle

09-20-2008 20:51:45 | More by largadeer

Gueuzedude

Arizona

4.6/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Vintage 2007; Sampled April 2008
Pours with a frothy, initially two-finger thick, purple-pink stained tan colored head. The beer is a deep purple color, but shows a deeply hazy, plum-red color when held up to the light. As I was pouring this beer a scent of blueberries was noticeable. A closer inspection is much more accented towards the funky Lambic notes; lots of funky, phenolic, bandaid like aromatics, a definite acidity, ample butyric acid notes, musty cotton balls, cured leather, . Behind all of this is a subtle, yet zesty, berry character that is distinctly of sweet-ripe blueberries; the blueberry notes are almost more noticeable in the nose when you are not trying.

Bracingly tart, with a fantastic sourness that almost causes me to pucker. I would swear that the ample sourness is magnified by tart fruit character, though it is mostly lactic in make up. The finish has a mouth-coating tannic character to it that is deeply stained with berry skin flavors. The flavor of this beer is not quite as funky or phenolic as the nose suggested, but this is definitely on the funky side of the spectrum. Light bandaid phenolics, moldy cotton ball notes, . The tannins, fruit and oak contribute a nice heft to the body of this brew though a zippy carbonation keeps this on the airy / light side; overall this is a beer to be quaffed in quantity, just like a Lambic should be.

As the beer warms up it picks up a bit more fullness and the acidity seems to mellow just a touch, becoming a bit more fruit accented, though still bracingly dry and tart. I really like the tannic structure that this beer has, it gives it a texture that is quite akin to the feeling while drinking black tea; this somehow provides some balance to this beer. My second pour seems to get just a touch of ripe-berry character to it, just enough to add an ephemeral touch of sweet fruit character without actually adding any sweetness. This is just getting more and more drinkable, it didn't start out a slouch either, and I am suddenly left wondering what happened to my 750ml bottle & asking myself why I don't have more to drink right now.

Wow, this is supposed to be the less tart / funky of the two vintages; I can't imagine (or is it can't wait) the 2005 vintage I have waiting for me being more sour than this. This is just quite funky right now, this definitely leans towards the hard side & I wonder how much of this has developed since bottling; especially since I see this as being less tart and more fruity than the 2005. This is fairly fruity, but certainly not in a dominant fashion (even by authentic Lambic standards), the fruit seems to more contribute to the tartness and tannic qualities of this beer rather than the ripe berry notes one might expect in a beer described as fruity. After having said all that, this is just a fantastic beer, as someone who really like funky, sour beers and my fruit to be a supporting player, well this just hits the spot quite well.

Serving type: bottle

04-19-2008 03:08:51 | More by Gueuzedude

HumuloneRed

Oregon

4.5/5  rDev -2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Thanks to Nick for this sample!
750ml. Bottle. 2007 vintage. Pours a purple/red color with a pinkish head that quickly dissipates.

The aroma is subtle on the blueberries with more barnyard funk, wood, and citrus.

Flavors of blueberries, raspberries, funky sour cherry in there as well.

Nice balance between the sweet and sour. A well made beer.

Serving type: bottle

04-08-2008 05:49:44 | More by HumuloneRed

SacoDeToro

California

4.38/5  rDev -4.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Vintage 2007. Sampled at a private party at GABF.

Poured an amazing hazy purple with a tight pink head.

The aroma was of full brettanomyces barnyard funk, lactic acid, and faint blueberries in the background.

The flavor was moderately tart for a Cantillon beer. It had all the great tight and clean funk that makes Cantillon beers my favorite amongst the sours. The blueberry flavor was very subdued and in the background. The beer had a clean biscuity and wheaty malt backbone (very subtle, but nice).

The carbonation was high and the mouthfeel was light.

This beer was incredibly refreshing, as are all Cantillons, and extremely drinkable.

Yummy.

Serving type: bottle

10-16-2007 04:01:26 | More by SacoDeToro

Goldorak

Quebec (Canada)

4.88/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Big thanks go to Rastacouere for sending over a bottle of this when he was in Danemark. 2006 vintage, bottled in 2007.

Appearance: Gorgeous light purple, almost rosée colored brew topped by a pinkish head that was pretty generous for Lambic, let alone a Cantillon.

Smell: That telltale barnyard funky aroma was all wet hay and dirty stables, with a very assertive fruit character that oscillated between raspberries, rhubarb and strawberries.

Taste: Carbonation was not as prickly as other fruit lambic I've tried, and the fruit is definately in the forefront here, and it's all blueberry, but the kind that just a bit unripe, when they're sort of greenish blue. I can't tell you if they were like that when they brewed this, but it certainly worked out extremely well. The acidity seemed somehow separated from the flavor, as if every sip came with two acts, the flavorful rush of fruit flavor, then acidity, that was drying and refreshing - sounds contradictory, but it isn't - but was at a very sustained level, not as massive and brutal as some of the other fruit lambics. It was probably one of the most balanced lambics I've ever sampled. Lord knows people have tried and failed to make good blueberry Beers, but this style seems like a perfect fit. It went down insanely well, and was an absolute orgasmic match with trappist-made chocolate-dipped blueberries I just happened to have (it's the season here in Quebec). This one is a masterpiece.

Serving type: bottle

08-26-2007 23:50:36 | More by Goldorak

Crosling

Colorado

4.8/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

This is a blueberry lambic exclusively brewed for Olbutikken, Copenhagen's best beer store.

Astounding color. Deep magenta with a super dark pink head, with little pieces of blueberry particles in the head. The beer clearly absorbed the color of the blueberries in a spectacular way. Without question, the best looking Cantillon beer I’ve seen.

The aroma is prehaps the most disappointing aspect of the beer. It’s just not nearly as powerful as I’d like. That being said, it’s still nice.

The flavor is absolutely incredible. Of all the Cantillon beers I’ve tried with fruit additions (cherries, raspberries, muscats grapes, red wine grapes, apricots, cranberries) the Danish blueberries in this beer is absolutely the best fruit addition. After the mid-palate, the blueberries become dominant. The fruit tastes lush, authentic and phenomenal. Also, for a Cantillon it’s not intensely sour like Rose De Gambrinus or Fou Foune, but instead, very well balanced. This is an incredible fruit lambic.

Serving type: bottle

04-11-2007 13:22:05 | More by Crosling