Found this beer at a beer store/bar in Barcelona that we just happened to wander into. This was the only bottle they had of this stuff. IIRC, it only put me back 15 euro. This is the same place that had Cantillon’s Lambic on hand-pulled cask. Obviously, I couldn’t pass on either of 'em. (like all other pics I post in this forum, this pic. is merely one I pulled from the internet, but it’s representative of the labelling that was on our bottle)
2005 Cantillon brewery “Lou Pepe” Kriek Gueuze- Belgium, Flanders, Brussels (11/1/2010)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over a couple hours –
– crown-cap and cork closure –
– bottled on August 22, 2007 –
NOSE: loads of lactic sourness; raspberry and cherry; some old oak barrel; moderately expressive to expressive.
BODY: hazy raspberry/strawberry color with slight orange at edges; almost no head – just a very small amount of fine-bubbled foam at the edges; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: incredibly sour; cherry pie; quite delicious; not for those who don’t like extreme sourness; doesn’t taste like it’s fading; not funky; fresh; no noticeable alcohol; whomever says not to age these fruited lambics is crazy – I bet this would be silly-good with another 5 to 10 years of age on it. This beer was made using two years-old lambic beers that were aged in used Bordeaux barrels; additionally, 300 grams of cherries per liter were soaked in barrels from Bordeaux; interestingly, raspberry is listed as an ingredient, so I suppose this is technically a kriek/framboise.
If you have or ever get a second one, stash it with your best wines for about 10 years past vintage. I popped one from 1999 last year that was ridiculous.
BTW: regarding the use of raspberries in this, I think Cantillon uses the same back label info on all the Lou Pepe series, at least they used to. The only one they blend fruit on is the Rose de Gambrinus.
IIRC, it was obvious from looking at the label that it is a shared label; however, and also iirc, it listed the ingredients for all the brews separately (so it had the ingredient lists for the Lou Pepe, the Lou Pepe Kriek, and the Lou Pepe Framboise listed separately) and next to “Lou Pepe Framboise” it said: “framboise”, and next to “Lou Pepe Kriek” it said; “kriek, framboise.” I could totally be remembering incorrectly, as I had this a couple weeks ago, but I do remember having a few minutes of deductive reasoning going on with this matter, and I think the scene was a as I just described. I’ll go out of my way to look at the label next time I see one.
Staring an '07 version (bottled Sept, '09) in the face right now. This one has it’s own (Kriek) back label.
No mention of raspberries.
Interestingly, they also state that they use Schaerbeek Cherries for the Lou Pepe - I had thought 3 Fronteinen was the lone brewery still using them.
Like them young or old myself. Primarily young since I can’t really keep my hands off them for very long! lol
I just saw an '82 that went for ~ $800 on ebay - !!!
The only fruit Lambic more than ~ 1/2 dozen years old I’ve ever had was a Boon '86 Mariage Parfait Framboise at 14 years old. Amazing, complex, vibrantly fruity stuff that certainly would have been at it’s peak for at least another decade.
$800 … yowza!! Thanks for the back label info., too. I may never again see the exact label I was looking at when I wrote my note, but will continue to keep an eye out.
ps. your description of the '86 Boon is making me drool!
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
Thanks for the back label info., too. I may never again see the exact label I was looking at when I wrote my note, but will continue to keep an eye out.