Brasserie Cantillon Cuvee Saint-Gilloise – Straight (Unblended) Lambic at 5% ABV (C$31.00 at Zyn, 750 ml, packaged on 17-Feb-2014, best before 1-Feb-2024, acquired 29-Jul-2014, reviewed 13-Jun-2020)
Appearance: clear medium gold with two fingers of rocky white head, excellent retention and spotty lacing. (4/5) Aroma: horseblankety funk, stone fruit, oak, doughy yeast. (8/10) Taste: moderate sweet, mild tart, low bitter. (8/10) Palate: medium-light body, lively carbonation, dry mildly tart finish. (4/5)
The Great Cellar Drink Down continues. What? I’m in quarantine, so I can’t get anything fresh, and who knows how long my collection will go into a storage unit after we pack up here and find a new house – could be months, easily, subjected to wild temperature variations. No, better it end here, with dignity: cue the swelling orchestra.
Anyhoo, yeah, the beer. An interesting one, and very dignified, actually. It’s pretty much a straight two-year Lambic, instead of a blended Gueuze, hopped with classic German Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops and bottle-charged with sucrose (but no fructose) to kick up the carbonation. I quite like the back story, of it being created to celebrate league championships and promotions for the Royale Union Saint-Gilloise football club, but “seeing as the club doesn’t quite always perform like a champion, it was decided to change the name for a third and final time to Cuvée Saint-Gilloise”. (Which strikes me as very Belgian: to be a fifth-generation supporter of a football club, but having realistic expectations about their performance.) And, that’s not a bad analogy for this beer: it’s certainly got no negatives, and in particular the very restrained tartness is much more civilized than the much more aggressive acidity sometimes found in American Wilds and even other Belgians. But, at the same time, it could stand to be a bit more flamboyant, and suffers a bit by comparison to other Cantillon offerings. A very functional table beer perhaps, but it’s not really going to be the star of anybody’s cellar. (16/20)
8/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
