Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus

My local beer store sometimes holds drawings for the opportunity to buy rare beers. Last week, they had a drawing for the Rose de Gambrinus, a raspberry lambic from Belgium. I like sour beers and lambics, so I thought, why not?  A few days later I got an email that I'd been selected, so I went down to the store to pick it up, and I was a little astounded that it cost $15.99 for a 12 oz. bottle. Of course I went ahead and bought it. I'm used to sour beers costing more than other types, but this is a little ridiculous. I guess it's for the novelty of the thing, and how hard it is to get.

The bottle came both with a cap and a cork. The cork was a little tough to extract. I almost broke the cork while I was pulling it out, but I managed. The beer pours pink and fizzy. It looks more like strawberry soda than beer. It has a super fruity nose, like raspberries, but with a citric note too.

The taste is really tart. Super tart. But in a mouth-watering sort of way. It reminds me of the way a tart lemonade leaves you a little thirsty, so you drink more. Lambic is made by letting the cooled wort (basically, the unfermented beer) stay open in the brewery and ferment from whatever yeast or bacteria happen along. The raspberry flavor is from fruit or syrup that's added to the brew. I didn't actually detect a lot of fruitiness in the taste, but the nose is beautiful.

I'm glad I got a chance to try this. I think this is only the 2rd or 3rd time I've had a true lambic, and it was interesting to get to compare to other types of sour beers that I've tried more recently. It compares very favorably. At $16, it's a little steep to go for again very soon (and I probably wouldn't get the chance anyway, considering how I got this bottle), but it's always worth it to me to try something new. If you want to try a sour beer that's a little cheaper and easier to come by, try Duchesse de Bourgogne. If you ever see a Russian River sour beer in the bottle at the store, definitely buy one.