Which Cantillon Beers Should I Buy?

St. Lam and the Lou Pepe's.

 

One of the most knowledgeable people about Lambic and Gueuze I've encoutered on this site is @F2brewers who may be willing to offer some suggestions.

 

[insert Bubbles blinking gif from Trailer Park Boys]

 

Has anyone said all of them?

But seriously if had that selection right now at my local store I would buy 1 each of the Lou Pepe's

Im still dying to try my first Cantillon or 3F beer

 

I've tried 7 on that list, and they were all fantastic. The least mindblowing of them to me was the regular Gueuze. And that beer is awesome.

 

Even if you don't like them, when you try them, there are countless others here and elsewhere that would love to trade for them. So if nothing else, serious trade fodder.

 

Depends how many he's willing to send to me for QC checks.

Not even half joking about my interest level.

My thoughts:

Lou Pepe Gueze: At least five years old? A must buy IMO. In my experience, these bottles tend to take off (in a good way) around that time. Magic as it ages.

Lou Pepe Kriek / Lou Pepe Framboise: While these hold up better than the standard Kriek/Rose bottles, they'll still be diminished from what they were fresh. At ~ 5 years, they'll still have good color and fruit will still win out over acidity if they've been stored properly. LPF is one of my favorite all time beers. Period. So for my taste, I'd pick that over the LPK. Your mileage may differ.

Gueze: This should also be an excellent choice...it will be different the the LPG (which isn't really a gueuze at all, but a two year old blended lambic that's been carbonated with a small amount of sugar solution). Compared to a fresh bottle, 5 or so year old Cantillon gueuze will show strong acidity with citrus notes and the signature Cantillon funk (more hay/barnyard than anything else. Cantillon gueuze is generally considered the most acidic of the brewer blended gueuzes (but, generally, not as acidic as something like Hannsens), so if you're expecting the soft mineral and lemon notes (e.g., 3F or Boon Marriage Parfait), you won't get them.

Rose de Gambrinus: I still like this at 5 years, but the fruit will, even under good conditions, be muted and the color may have faded from red to a pale pink. Acidity will dominate, but it's still a good beer. I'd rate this lower than any of the ones above.

Vignerrone: This is a tough call. In my experience, it all depends on the grapes that went into the bottle as their terroir is different year over year. I love Vig, but for example, we tried a bottle of 2011 in the fall of 2012 at Cantillon and found it had almost no grape notes and was very peppery. Jean said he wasn't happy with the way that vintage developed, but opened up a bottle of 2009 which was still fantastic.

St. Lamvinus: Same as Vig above, but to a lesser extent as the variance in the grapes is less noticeable (to my palate anyway). I always prefer Vig over St. Lam despite preferring red wine to white under most circumstances. Go figure. It has, IMO, better aging characteristics on the whole than Vig. We opened a 2008 during the summer and it was still drinking wonderfully

Kriek: IMO, better aged than fresh (note: many people disagree with me here). Time allows the lambic and fruit to meld better (to my palate). Young, they don't seem integrated the way that (hold your horses here) Timmermans Oude Kriek or 3F Oude Kriek do. Then again, Cantillon doesn't claim that it conforms to Oude Kriek standards.

St Gilliose: Good, but the dry hop notes that set this beer apart will have faded. They can't be that old if they're St. Gil and not Cuvee des Champions (which it was bottled as up until 2009/2010 depending on whom you believe).

Lambic Bio: This is (if it's the Mannekin Pis label with the pissing statue), Classic Gueuze with the Euro label (the US label is the guy drinking falling back in the chair) unless it's older than 2006. If it's that old, buy it. / thread.

Iris: Similar to St. Gil since it's dry hopped. Technically not lambic since it's 100% malt in the grist (no wheat), but that's Cantillon for you. IMO, holds up better than St. Gil, but YMMV. If it's older than 2011 (cork date) / 2009 (brew date), there should be a vintage year on the front of the label since it was generally brewed only once a year. After that it was brewed more often and sometimes, multiple years were blended, you'll need to look on the back label for a bottling date.

My thoughts: LPG > Gueuze/LambicBio > LPF > LPK > Iris > Vig > St. Gil > St. Lam > Rose > Kriek

Really, you can't go wrong...and if they've been stored correctly, they should all be enjoyable.

If they've still got foil over the cap/cork, you may want to ask if you can peel back the foil and inspect the cap as it's been known to rust underneath the foil and that can compromise the integrity of the cork and influence carbonation/oxidation. Not in all cases, but in most cellar conditions, it can/does happen. It's only in the last few years that Cantillon has switched to higher quality corks to allow longer aging without being super careful.

Great score!

 

We should all be so fortunate to have this particular problem.

Enjoy good sir.

 

/endthread