AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
adamjackson (766) – Canaan, New Hampshire, USA – SEP 13, 2012
S – Smells exactly like Cantillon’s Oude Lambeek that we had in Belgium. Lots of horseblanket, hint of wheat scent and a nice big tangy citrus aroma. I get some orange peel and honey as well.
T – Very great taste! There’s a significant amount of oak at the finish. Some bit of metallic like a copper penny taste. Tons of (need I even say it) funk and tartness. Very mellow (naturally) compared to the young unblended lambic I’ve had. Hint of sweetness, very earthy and the metallic taste is getting on my nerves a bit. END of glass (dregs) taste. WHOA. I had to come back to add some tasting notes for the end. Dregs aren’t clumpy at all. Just adds a darker cloudiness to the beer. Taste of the dregs is like candied apples! Very sweet, earthy and tart pear and candied apples taste. It’s pretty remarkable. Dregs rarely taste better than the rest of the bottle.
M – No carbonation, light body.
O – This is fantastic but also very confusing. I expected carbonation in this unblended lambic but it’s not there. It’s not as if that’s a bad thing but it’s jut unexpected. Very drinkable and this 750ML is no issue with finishing.
Not that Cantillion cares about BJCP guidelines, but unblended lambics are traditionally served without carbonation.
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style17.php#1d
And, actually, the BJCP names this Cantillion as *the* example for the style. So I wouldn’t expect that the lack of carbonation was due to the beer being young. It was intended to be non carbonated.