Poured at 6°C from a 750ml bottle, split across two wine glasses. Deep ruby, brilliantly clear, with a pink-tinged head that does not last.
Cantillon have built this on pils / unmalted wheat with Aged whole-leaf in the kettle. 5.5%, 10 IBU: unremarkable numbers on paper, and the beer is better for it.
The aroma writes a cheque the palate very nearly cashes. What arrives is drier and quieter than the nose promises, and while the finish is clean, a point of the score disappears into the gap between the two.
The whole point of a beer at 5.5% is the second and third glass, and this survives both. There is no cloying edge, no fatigue in the finish, and the hop character stays legible right through. That is harder to achieve than a big beer, and it gets a fraction of the credit.
Time in foeder has rounded the acidity into something you can drink rather than survive. There is a softness across the middle that stainless never produces, and the wood shows as texture rather than flavour.
Beers like this are why the wild section of this site exists at all. Cantillon have been making it for long enough that the consistency is no longer surprising, which does nothing to make it less impressive. If you are anywhere near Brussels, BE, go and buy it from the source.
Bought at Cantillon shop (two per person at the time of writing). Stand the bottle upright for a day. Pour in one movement, leave the last inch.
We will buy this again at full price, which is the only recommendation that costs us anything.
