Rose De Gambrinus (Cantillon)

The bottle looks unassuming, and the general style of sours do not sound appealing to most people. It is a style similar to IPAs, in that if you have a shitty one first you may not come back to the style. This is the third style of Cantillon that I have had, and my favorite so far. This beer is like a quiet conversation in the corner of a cafe somewhere in Europe. The flavor is a woven tapestry of fruit, bitterness, and funk. The mouth feel is robust, falling right in the middle. You'd probably expect it to be lighter.

Most brewers spend years working on cleanliness and sanitation, just a touch of unwanted bacteria can ruin the flavor that was the goal.  Lactobacillus and Brettanomyces are types of these bacteria that enjoy the high sugar of a fermenting mash. These bacteria create unwanted acids that give off flavors like band aids, metal, and even unwanted herbal aromas. The brewers who have been playing with this funk for years have the experience to kill the bacteria once the desired amount of funk is present. The people at Cantillon have been playing with fire for hundreds of years. It is obvious that these sours are above and beyond many of their American counter parts. I love getting to try these, and if you ever travel to Belgium or see these beers around, don't second guess yourself. This is the Whale of Whales!

http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_1