Had my first Cantillon's...

No

EDIT: Its all about individual taste.

 

I love Cantillon, but find some others to be a bit more interesting. Tilquin is my favourite gueuze at the moment, and Lindemans Cuvee Rene is certainly up there as a top one.

Drinking a Girardin Black Label right now, and it is superb. Probably just below a Cantillon gueuze. Had the Dre Fontenein Oude Gueuze two nights ago, and was underwhelmed by it.

But once you get into some of the fruit lambics from Cantillon, Vigneronne, Lamvinus, Fou Foune, they are incredible. Fresh Fou Foune is one of the best things I have ever had.

I do love the Russian River sours though. Would love to get my hands on more of those!

 

No, definitely not.

Try the beers again when your taste buds haven't been ovewhelmed by sampling lots of sours in a short time.

The Cantillon reputation is well deserved.

 

Obviously, everyone's tastebuds are different, but... many (most?) people consider Belgian lambics/geuzes to be vastly more complex than American sours. Not necessarily better, but definitely more complex.

It may take some time to get used to picking all of the different flavors and aromas out from a good geuze.

 

I agree with less condescension. Just give em another shot.

 

Which ones did you try?


photo(4) by mateolibbeysi5, on Flickr

 

Given that conventional wisdom here says "Drink Iris fresh due to dry hopping" it's interesting to see Iris '07 on tap. Was that a choice made by Cantillon, the vendor, or the fest organizers?

 

You found Cascade to be more complex than Cantillon? Interesting...

Aged Iris is delicious.

 

The only thing I can think is that you might have been suffering from palate fatigue. For myself personally the Fou Foune and the Lou Pepe 07 Kriek where absolute stunners from the day. I started my day with a Deviation and a Fou Foune and honestly it was all down hill (all be it a delicious gradual sour slide) after the Fou.

 

fest organizer/owner I'm pretty sure had the final say in what was pulled from their cellar.

 

i'm guessing they were too sour for you. i love cantillon, find it consistently more complex than the cascade wild ales i've had, but in general cantillon is a bit too sour for me. it doesn't overwhelm or mask the complexity of the beer, but i can see how it might at first taste.

my problem with it isn't one of balance or any other objective criticism, it's just that i'm finding that i don't want my beers to be quite that sour. happily (not really happily), i can't find any cantillon on shelves anymore anyway (in reality, i'd love to drink them every so often).

contrasting example: when i first tried IPAs, i didn't like them because they were too bitter. however, it wasn't that the bitterness itself was bad (like, i suspect, most craft beer and/or coffee enthusiasts, i have a pretty bitter palate), it was that i didn't taste anything else. once i sort of got used to that level of bitterness along with the other flavors, i was on board. with wild ales, i am used to the other flavors, am on board, but just don't like extremes in terms of sourness.

 

i dont think "complex" is the word i'd use when comparing cascade wild ales to cantillon lambics.

agreed on the iris too - i had an 05 and 06 a while back and they were both fantastic.

 

This clarification and your description is helpful and suggests the possibility that what may be happening for you is that the "house style" sour from Cantillon isn't as good a match for your tastes as are some of the others lambics and gueuzes. Given the way spontaneous fermentation brewing relies on the wild yeasts and bacteria accumulated in the brew house and/or blown over the wort by the evening breezes while it is cooling, there should be some noticeable differences in "house style" from breweries located in different areas with different proportions of wild yeasts, etc., etc. It’s a lot like sourdough bread made through spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts. A sourdough bread "infected" with wild yeasts in the San Francisco area will have a noticably different set of flavors to it than will a sourdough bread made in Egypt, in the steppes of Russia, or even several miles up or down the coast from San Francisco. Micro-climates can have a powerful effect in both cases.

 

Sounds like a sweet sour festival, where was it held?

 

Brouwer's in Seattle. Great event at an awesome taphouse

 

I think I can completely understand the OP's point of view and have to "defend" him. While I agree with everyone that Cantillon's reputation is well-deserved, I get why you like the Cascade sours more (in fact, I had the same reaction at my first Brouwer's sour fest in '09). As you pointed out correctly, Cascade sours are a bit sweeter--I believe most of their beers finish at a higher gravity, have more body and more residual sweetness. Also, believe it or not, I think that their fruit beers have even more fruit flavor than SOME Cantillon beers. As for the complexity point, I think Cantillon gets its complexity primarily from the bugs and blending whereas Cascade it's more about the fruit and different barrels coming through more in the end, and they're far less delicate than most traditional lambics/gueuzes.

While you may grow to love Cantillon more, you still may find years from now that Cascade's sour profile just works better with your taste buds. Or maybe you'll get turned onto 3F or another blender. Just keep an open mind, but until then, enjoy as much Cascade as you can get. I miss living out that way! Cheers.