A nice evening drive out into the cold cold sticks...well sticks for around here I guess. All for some sour beer. Well not just any sour beer. This is the kinda sour beer that some people look high and low for. Some of these people will be descending on his house tonight. It would be cool to have an aerial shot of that ;-)
Here's a pre-Thank You my friend!
Post visit notes:
Wow, I don't think I can even spell half of these beers. There was an Iris, Kriek, Frambois, blended, non-blended, vertical tastings and so much more. Thanks to you and your wife!
PPS Since Dell responded in comment I thought I would add his name to the main post. Sometimes I'm very conservative about using real world names out here in the blogosphere.
original photographs
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6 comments:
I still have yet to develop a taste for the sour beer. Good luck with that one.
I. AM. JEALOUS. I love Cantillon beers and the brewery.
Well sour isn't for everybody, but, I gotta tell you last night was fun. Low key tasting of pretty much the whole line up as far as I can tell. Not to mention several years of some.
Ever think of brewing a sour Nate?
I have thought about brewing a sour and I hope to someday. Two things I need to consider (and I need to research):
1. I've heard that once you introduce a strain of Brett or one of the bacterial strains into your system that it's near impossible to get rid of (i.e., every beer thereafter gets some flavor)
2. can I make a halfway decent sour (gueuze or Flemish sour, for example) without an oak barrel?
Glad you could make it. You'll be a sourhead before you know it.
Did you notice some of the subtle details of the sourness or did the sourness just blow you away?
older = more complex
I thought the two 1996 vintages - one kriek and one geueze were the "best of show"
Cheers,
Dell
The apricot was the most pleasantly sour.
The older vitages were more fruity and less astringent/sour/harsh... perhaps more complex. I really struggle for terms, but, that's the fun of it.
All the sourness didn't overwhelm me. In fact I would say I enjoy sours more than American brown ales. Anyway, I really should have taken a few notes. My memory doesn't serve me very well when trying to remember names and such.
My favorites of the night were...
...the apricot, probably because it was most similar to regular sour food. Like dry sourpatch kids without all the sugar...well not really, but, you get the point. Perhaps it is because it is less complex and more single minded. You know kinda like the way people tend to like IPAs when they first get sucked into craft beer. Gotta go with the simple stuff because it makes sense at that point in their evolution.
...and the Iris. Again, it seemed to have the easiest profile to identify with. I can't say I really got much of the dry hopping though. It was sour and malty...
how's that for descriptive?
The Lou Pepe wasn't as good as that one we tasted at The Drafting Room (fading memory) for that one festival that we were at with the er...people...uh drinking beer. Gaaaaah! (damn memory again) Anyway it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.
Thanks again Dell!
Nate,
Yeah, I've heard of the risk of contamination. I've never had the chance to test the theory. I would think glass surfaces are fine, but, plastic and rubber and such would be more problematic.
I think you should try making the gueuze or Flemish sour without an oak barrel. I guess you'd have to buy another fermenter...well...you could just go sour and never go back. I'll bet Dell would agree ;-)
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