50°N-4°E (Cognac Barrel Aged)
Brasserie Cantillon

50°N-4°E (Cognac Barrel Aged)50°N-4°E (Cognac Barrel Aged)
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From:
Brasserie Cantillon
 
Belgium
Style:
Gueuze
Ranked #9
ABV:
7%
Score:
97
Ranked #640
Avg:
4.38 | pDev: 7.76%
Reviews:
119
Ratings:
483
Status:
Active
Rated:
Oct 28, 2023
Added:
Jan 02, 2008
Wants:
  654
Gots:
  82
In March 2005, the brewery Cantillon had bought second hands barrels in the region of Cognac. For 15 years, the wood had been impregnated with cognac. Then for 2 years, our lambic has extracted all the flavors and aromas to make a unique gueuze. The name comes from the geographic location of the brewery.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by NoLiberty:
Photo of NoLiberty
Reviewed by NoLiberty from Pennsylvania

4.22/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Sampled this young bottle at the Cantillon Brewery in Brussels with GrassrootsVT as a gift from the brewer right off the conditioning stack. Really nice treat.

This is their traditional lambic aged 2 years in cognac barrels. The name 50 degrees north-4 degrees east refers to the breweries location in terms of latitude-longitude.

App: Served from a lambic basket. Pours an orange-golden, straw color with notes of caramel colored edging. A smallish head (likely due to the lack of full bottle fermentation) with a lasting filmy head and low lacing. Beautiful little bubbles rise like a chain from the bottom of the glass.

Aroma: Very nice smell. Warm, tart with undertones of dried fruit and grape skin. Starts with a solid lambic nose and strengthens with notes of oak, woodiness, warm fruit, alcohol and raisins. An exceptional balance of ripe fruits to tartness.

Taste: A beautiful balance of flavors back and forth between tart and refreshing and slightly sweet and fruity. Starts traditionally tart with slight cherry and finishes with more fresh flowers, sour grapes, and slight warming alcohol fruit. Finishes dry.

Mouth: Slightly fuller bodied than expected or desired, which may be due to not enough age. Carbonation is good and pretty strong. Body is somewhat bigger than expected. Very dry despite being slightly sweet.

Drink: Oh yeah, very good on the drinkability, mostly due to the incredible balance of flavors.
Feb 11, 2008
More User Ratings:
Photo of StonedTrippin
Reviewed by StonedTrippin from Colorado

4.49/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
super heady, we picked this bottle up at an amazing little shop in madrid and brought it back with us a couple years ago, finally cracked it open, brewed in 2016, bottled in 2020, i think just the second time this was produced, but i dont have all the details. just slight haze to the pour under a rising and lasting almost inch of white foam, one of the more active lambics ive had i some time, really nicely conditioned. the tone is brassy and flaxen, and the body is middle of the road, fuller than some and not broken down by acidity, but still light and kind of quick to me, despite the complexity of the flavor. i get oak and funk before anything else in the nose, this is leaping out of the glass. slightly grassy and tea-like at first with old brett in the mix, quickly the cognac richness hits me, minerals and cooked sugar and fortified wine decadence, neat with earthy wheat, acidity is mild but my mouth still waters, the complexity here is unrivaled and the long barrel treatment seems immediately justified. i love the creamy feel right away, palate coating and i taste it from all corners of my mouth, hints of pear and banana for a flash up front, cedar and musk in the middle and the light vanilla profile of the oak, highly intriguing and mature, then some lemony citrus character before it gets a little piquant, the vinous sugary cognac on display more and more as this sits and warms, the flattering kind of oxidation is here, lightly medicinal lambic character, drying and funked out at the end, impressively well refined overall, im sure this would age well for 20 years or more, would be fun to find out some day. i like the assertive but still soft feeling carbonation, and i like the mix of funk and acidity at the end, i could drink a whole lot of this, nothing too sharp for the belly or anything. green grape, wet paper, and dry hay and straw at the end, some light raisin richness from the cognac all through it, a waft of alcohol at the end. gorgeous lambic, a top cantillon beer of all time for me, although my exposure is still somewhat limited. thankful to have been able to share this with my wife and one of my best and beeriest friends!
Oct 28, 2023
 
Rated: 4.5 by 4DAloveofSTOUT from Illinois

May 30, 2023
Photo of zac16125
Reviewed by zac16125 from South Carolina

4.67/5  rDev +6.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
2020 vintage
reviewed may 2023

A: Pours crystal clear, golden yellow, one plus fingers width of bright white head, good retention, some carbonation bubbles racing to the top of the glass. 4.75

S: Aroma is funky, fruity, floral. Subtle pungeat cheese, lots of oak, citrus zest, hay, a bit barnyard-y, some peach and pear fruit flesh brings some balancing sweetness. 4.5

T: Taste is funky, floral, with a huge minerality. Tart citrus with a big lemon zest character and some orange. There are long lingering notes of fruit , with a big peach flesh character. It’s quite sour but not puckering. There is also a very big lingering vanilla flavor. It’s fruitier than the typical Cantillon Gueuze, presumably from the cognac barrel aging. One of the most impressive things about this beer, and elite gueuzes in general, in the length of lingering flavors on the finish. Just divine. 4.75

M/D: Mouthfeel is medium bodied but with the heavy carbonation makes it feel lighter. Crazy drinkability. 4.5

O: It’s wildly complex (see what I did there), and immensely drinkable. Is it that much better than regular Cantillon to justify the difficulties in obtaining, probably not as regular Cantillon Gueze is elite in and of itself. But it’s unquestionable a gem of a beer, an elite amongst the elite, and a real treat. 4.75
May 28, 2023
 
Rated: 4.75 by npolachek from New York

May 22, 2023
 
Rated: 4.5 by Montanabeerz from Montana

May 07, 2023
Photo of joaopmgoncalves
Reviewed by joaopmgoncalves from Portugal

4.75/5  rDev +8.4%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
Brewed on 30th November 2016. Barrel aging since 6th December 2016. Bottled on 28th February 2017. Drank in 15th February 2023, 6 years after bottling.

Poured into a Zalto Universal.

A: Pours a bright yellow to coppery tone with a weak 2mm white head.
S: The aroma is very subtle with tones of brettanomyces, lots of light molasses, can almost feel a light orange peel in here. No hops at all. From the aroma it seems that this beer is mostly acidic and sweet.
T: This beer starts off with a mild sweetness incoming from the barrel and also suggests use of grapes or other fruits but according to the label is hasn't any. There's also a light savoury touch to this that brightens everything else and pushes your mouth to salivate along with the acidic tones that come together right after, with a light barnyardy tone. Right before the finish, you get a glimpse of bitterness that is just a bit rough on the palate, suggesting that the wood might by pushing too much tannins into this beer.
M: Body is low to medium. Carbonation is medium and soft. Alcohol is unnoticed. Bitterness, though not high in terms of absolute values, seems a bit rougher than expected. Acidity is medium high.
O: I find this beer to be incredibly tasty due to the salty component that brings all of this together. Pretty good.
Feb 15, 2023
 
Rated: 4.43 by mdaschaf from Indiana

Dec 25, 2022
 
Rated: 4.46 by rbrefbeerman from California

Oct 31, 2022
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Rated by unclekeith from Alaska

4.5/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Substantial variation from batch to batch partly due to barrels.
Sep 06, 2022
 
Rated: 4.77 by timmy2b from New York

Aug 30, 2022
 
Rated: 4.74 by Tmappin from Canada (NS)

Aug 22, 2022
Photo of Harrison8
Reviewed by Harrison8 from Missouri

4.46/5  rDev +1.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Cradled 750mL bottle served in decanter, sat for ~20 minutes, then served into glass. Pours a golden color with a light haze to the transparency, even after 4/5ths of a bottle were poured into a decanter, sat, then into the glass. Head is two fingers of white foam. Aroma is barrel right off the front, with cognac leading it. Vanilla, heavy stone, and lemon zest do well to complicate the nose in endearing ways. Flavor profile leads with more vanilla, with heavy barrel character behind. Rum starts to show up more at the close, adding a dark fruit quality. Mouth feel is medium in thickness with a boiled, fuzzy texture. Overall, just sublime. Cognac and rum enhance the complexities here, without over extending themselves.

Served from a 750mL bottle. Decanted. Reviewed from notes.
Apr 08, 2022
Photo of Snowcrash000
Reviewed by Snowcrash000 from Germany

4.4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Pours a clear, golden amber coloration with a small, fizzy head. Smells of doughy malt and estery fruit, with notes of green apple, apricot and lighter dark fruit and berries, with accents of plum, cranberry and white grape, as well as some musty funk and oak also coming through. Taste is an excellent balance of light doughy malt, estery fruit, lighter dark fruit and berries, with notes of tart green apple, pear, apricot, plum, fig, cranberry and white grape as well as some hay, musty, cheesy funk, oak and hints of vanilla and nutmeg, all underlaid with a light lactic/citric acidity and booziness. Finishes with a light/medium tartness and some estery, dark fruit and berries, as well as funk, spice and oak lingering in the aftertaste. Smooth mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

The aging in Cognac barrels certainly makes for a very interesting Gueuze here, adding some more more dark/red fruit and spice to the typical, estery fruit flavor profile, as well as a hint of booziness, which I'm actually not that keen on, although it's really not too bad. All in all, those Cognac notes are rather subtle here, which is a good thing, with them not overpowering those estery fruit and funk notes and making for a complex and subtly balanced Gueuze with a rich and unique depth of character and wide range of fruity notes. This grew on me even more as it warmed, with those fruity, spicy, funky, woody and lightly boozy characteristics really coming together and making for a very unique and enjoyable drinking experience.
Apr 02, 2022
 
Rated: 4.49 by loganburgh from Michigan

Mar 29, 2022
 
Rated: 4.5 by Chuckdiesel24 from Illinois

Mar 13, 2022
 
Rated: 4.75 by paulish from New York

Mar 02, 2022
Photo of Jack_14
Reviewed by Jack_14 from Italy

4.1/5  rDev -6.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Deep golden, almost orange.
Foam present but soft and quite evanescent.
Already on the nose the warm smell of fruit in alcohol, wood and light mold.
Taste nuances that pass with harmonious balance from the typical reflection of Bretta mold, to the roundness of the wood, dried fruit, candied fruit and the alcoholic note of the distillate that emerges in the background.
Beer that evolves over time in the glass, always releasing new hints that are undoubtedly attributable to cognac, with the bretta always present during the soaking.
Sep 27, 2021
 
Rated: 4.33 by steverx8 from England

Sep 25, 2021
 
Rated: 4.5 by Uconnelmo from Connecticut

Jul 24, 2021
50°N-4°E (Cognac Barrel Aged) from Brasserie Cantillon
Beer rating: 97 out of 100 with 483 ratings