Stephen

Kriek 100% Lambic 2024

Tons of raw sour cherry. Barely acidic at all, which is shocking for Cantillon. Not that much else going on other than a light oak undernote, but it's the best Cantillon Kriek I've had short of Lou Pepe

Oude Geuze Boon Black Label Edition N°7

Fresh red apple finish, grapefruit pith, water

Kriek Boon

Vanilla yogurt with a top sweet cherry bottom

Kriek Boon

#NeverAgain

Blåbær Lambik (Blueberry Lambic) (2022)

Hard to get through. Tannins are over the top. Fairly acidic, it just doesn't work.

Lou Pepe Kriek (2020)

Smooth schaarbeekse goodness. Bursting out from secondary fermentation.

50°N-4°E (2021)

Caramel and green apple. Wish there was some cereal here, but it's terrific regardless

Magic Lambic (2023)

Lacks the over the top brightness and fruit density of 3F, but it's smooth af. Would be a great summer beer.

Magic Lambic (2019)

Brightness has faded. Smooth, easy drinking raspberry lambic.

Classic Gueuze (2015)

A less acidic year, aging well. Creamy, rounded mouthfeel

Gueuze (2023)

Much less acidic than previous years. Very quaffable with excellent balance.

LHD 2019

Sweet, heavy, alcohol forward, and hard to get through, but has a gloriously refined berry pear finish.

Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) (2017)

Dense and chewy in all the best ways. Roast coffee dominates a molasses and chocolate malt base

Classic Gueuze

Too much vinegar, as usual. Draught doesn't magically improve things like it can for Tilquin

Oude Geuze Boon

Either draft doesn't work for Boon Geuze or it's the keg or the lines or the

Backwoods Bastard (2022)

Sweet caramel, lighter bourbon touch, plenty of vanilla and quite a bit of oak. Tannins are oddly high.

Más Agave Grapefruit

Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio (2022)

Either an awful year or a poor bottle

Rosé De Gambrinus (2022)

Saint Lamvinus (2021)

Definitely a bad bottle. Badly soured wine full of off flavours.

Vigneronne (2021)

Oude Geuze Boon à L'Ancienne - VAT 110 Mono Blend (2016)

Incredibly pithy on first sip, but blends in instantly after that. Caramel, oak, grapefruit, and funky apple. Good enough to stand head to head with 3F, wow.

Oude Geuze A L'Ancienne VAT 108bis Mono Blend (2018)

So much lemon. Hit of honey upfront. And then so much lemon. Thanks Simon M. — never dreamt I'd get to compare these here.

Kriek Boon

Overly syrupy with way too much vanilla

Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio (2018)

Smoothing nicely with age

Kriek Boon (2020)

Dessert "lambic" — it's basically a cherry Fruli without added sugar and with a vanilla finish. Rich, well-rounded cherry flavour, but the beer itself is absent.

HORAL's Oude Geuze Mega Blend (2021)

Gorgeous aroma. Bottle fermented enough for the cork to blow two potlights. Funk is clean, but not complex. Drinks like a light farmhouse without the depth of a saison spice.

Porter

Overwhelming coffee, notes of dark chocolate, and a drop of vanilla in the too bitter finish. Incredibly roasty, but lacks malt complexity to support it properly.

Nath (2018)

Tons of rhubarb, it punches hard and upfront unlike other rhubarb beers. None of the vinegar notes Cantillon struggles with, this is clean. Wish it had a Sherry barrel finish though.

Oude Geuze A L'Ancienne VAT 108bis Mono Blend (2018)

Sweet, light caramel, touch of lemon

Oude Geuze Boon à L'Ancienne - VAT 108 Mono Blend (2016)

Better than the - bis variant. Just a really well executed geuze, archetypal excellence

Vigneronne (2019)

HORAL's Oude Geuze Mega Blend (2019)

An oaky, solid Oude Geuze. Not brilliant, but accessible af

Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio (2021)

Kentucky Bourbon Stout (KBS) (2021)

"The best part of waking up, is Founders in your cup"

Fou’ Foune (2021)

Solid, but verging on yogurt notes again

Gueuze 03 April 2019

A step up from other years, not as one-note sour, more complexity

Oude Geuze Boon

Not as sophisticated or complex as a 3F, but this is well balanced and gets an extra point for hitting just right.

Lambic D'Aunis 2020

Lou Pepe Kriek (2018)

Tons of cherry. And tons of... Granny Smith??

Le Plaisir

A study in how complex one can make a wine vinegar without making either.

Kriek 100% Lambic Bio (2021)

Very cherry forward. Less depth than anything 3F ever. But it's hyper cherry without being too sweet, and who doesn't love tart cherries?

Grand Cru Bruocsella Lambic Bio (2021)

Thin as always. Wine and blonde coffee, mixed with sweet caramel. Has a cognac-like effect.

Saint Lamvinus (2021)

Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio

03 September 2018. Nowhere close to the quality of 3F

Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) (2020)

So much bourbon. Lots of vanilla, but proportionate. Toasted barrel blends beautifully with the malt depth.