Cantillon: Magic Lambic (Belgium: Fruit Lambic: 5.5% ABV)
Visual: Bright black-cherry red. Thin white dash of a head.
Nose: Vanilla. Dry white oak. Raspberry. Strawberry.
Body: Raspberry. Very fresh. Vanilla. Green grapes. Blueberries. Raspberry coolers. Twigs. Greenery. Strawberry. Light cheese funk.
Finish: Raspberry cooler. Fresh. Lemon. Vanilla sweetness. Blueberry. Strawberry jelly. Shortbread pastry.
Conclusion: Oh this is the epitome of the Cantillon fruited lambic for me, this is the one where I 100% get it. Which may be a sign that I am a lightweight as a lot of people consider this the Cantillon to ease people in, due to it being less mouth puckering than most. Ah well, I like it, a lot, and that is what matters to me.
It is mouth freshening still, but the vanilla gives a gentle sweetness that makes it oh so approachable, giving an in that the sour Cantillon character is less imposing. Now I like the Rose de Gambrinus, but that is mouth puckeringly sharp. This has a lovely fresh, kind of raspberry cooler style fruit character – far brighter and more vibrant that your average use of raspberry in lambic. I have not tried the Lou Pepe Framboise, that makes up the base of this, for a very long time, so have to use Rose de Gambrinus as my closest comparison.
On top of that, or more gently underneath, there are subtle blueberry notes that add a depth, a slight darkness and with that a range of flavor beyond that bright and quite sweet front. There are more traditional lambic notes there, such as twigs and a yeast funk that give a more savoury grip so it doesn’t become simplistic. It is easy to drink, so refreshing despite that – the fruit is so approachable and makes this a fantastic beer to drink on a warm day as I did.
Finally there is a lovely savoury shortbread pasty dryness underlying it, along with a slight greenery – something that helps ground the brighter character and just brings everything together.
This is utter magic, Pun intended.
Background: Last of the Cantillons I did tasting notes for at Zwanze day at the Moor taproom. I had actually tried this at a previous Zwanze day but had not done notes then so wanted to make sure to do notes on it this time. This is based on Lou Pepe Framboise, one of my first Cantillon experiences back in the day, made with 80% raspberries, 20% BlackBerries and madagascar vanilla. The internet tells me is is also called Cantillon Framboise Vanille. Magic Lambic was first made in 2018 to help the Magic Land Theatre which was struggling. Though ratebeer lists Cantillon Zwanze 2016 also as an alias for Cantillon Framboise Vanilla which clashes with that 2018 first brewing date, so take these aliases with a pinch of salt, they may just be very similar rather than the same. This was drunk on tap, but again I took a picture of the bottle version as it is pretty.