I love me a good sour cherry beer and the other night was perfect to open up my Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek 2004 vintage. I've had some very good Kriek's in the past, particularly from Hanssen's and Alpine (Chez Monieux), and have also had some other really amazing beers using sour cherries including New Glarus' Wisconsin Belgian Red and Lost Abbey's Red Poppy (from the barrel tasting before most of the cherry sweetness had been fermented away). I was expecting Cantillon's Lou Pepe to be as good, if not better than these.
Lou Pepe Kriek was definitely very unique. Not only did it have a very nice sourness and sour cherry (with a bit of cherry sweetness accompanying it), but it also threw in some really wild yeast and bacteria character. The best I can do is say it was pretty funky, although at first we just thought it was my friend Loren's flatulence problem he was having that night, but we were wrong. The only thing I didn't completely like about this was the burning it put on my esophagus, which I haven't experienced since my first sour beer (and I thought I just wasn't use to them at that time). It limited the amount I could drink for sure, but at least it was a delicious heartburn.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sour Cherry Champion - Cantillon
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Yes, this is one of my favorite from Cantillon. The whole "Lou Pepe" series actually and it always a must when they have it on draught back home.
Just heard from a friend that they had Cantillon on cask (direct from the key) over at GBBF (The Great British Beer Fest). Wish I was there.
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