Cantillon Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio - Belgium (ABV 5%)

The "Manneken Pis" on the label, doing his thing whilst eye-balling a glass of beer,  is a dead giveaway that this beer is from Brussels.

I was fortunate enough to visit the Cantillon Brewery in 2008 and even more fortunate that my wife didn't particularly enjoy Lambic beers (more samples for me).

Many people don't enjoy Lambic beer, the sour taste catches them by surprise.  Lambic beers are blended and allowed to spontaneously ferment in the bottle (whilst stored horizontally for at least one year) to produce "Gueuze", the Champagne of beers.  Younger Lambics are blended with older Lambics, the younger beers providing enough sugars for the secondary fermentation to occur in the bottle. This technique produces a Champagne like bead and head on this beer. This Bio version is brewed with purely organically grown cereals, in this case 35% wheat and 65% malted barley.

It is a sour tasting beer but the champagne like creamy mouth feel and dry finish makes it quite refreshing. It has an almost sorbet like palate cleansing effect.

Cantillon are regarded as brewing the most authentic traditional Lambic beers. They are different to most beers but are well worth trying.