Cantillon Tasting

Last night, I had the privilege to share 3 bottles of Cantillon with some good friends. It was a great experience, paired with excellent apertifs.

The first bottle we tried was the gueuze - the flagship of the brewery, and the model for pretty much every other gueuze in current production. It's an extremely acidic, tart, and funky beer, with minimal carbonation (produced entirely by refermentation in the bottle) that begs to be paired with fine cheeses, olives, and nuts - all thankfully on hand. Like all of Cantillon's lambic-based beers, it clocks in at a light 5% ABV.

Next, we moved to the Rose de Gambrinus - the brewery's take on a framboise. Like the gueuze (which is the base beer), it's still quite acidic and tart, but less funky, with a soft fruit sweetness imparted by the raspberries. We agreed it was an excellent dessert beer that would pair with a wide variety of sweet foods.

Our final beer was the Kriek - the gueuze made with cherries. This was a swing back into the extremely tart - the cherry flavor is bright and forward, with a bit of sweetness to balance out the sour acidity of the gueuze. Some of our party declared it their favorite of the three, and it's easy to see why - after trying other, lesser krieks, it's a revelatory experience to see it done properly.

The big question I'd like to raise now is perhaps a bit controversial, given Cantillon's wide acclaim among beer geeks - is it the best beer made in its style/category?

I'm not sure. While the beer is excellent, I find their story and their old-school method of production far more interesting than the product. As I'll soon detail, visiting Cantillon and taking its tour is an experience unique among breweries.