'Saint Lamvinus'

Lambic, Brussels, Belgium 

“Lambic can be rightly considered the missing link between the worlds of wine and beer, and ‘Saint Lamvinus' takes this one step further by adding grapes” – Cantillon. Founded in 1900, Cantillon was originally one of hundreds of breweries until it became Belgium’s only brewery in the 2000s, specializing in lambics – spontaneously fermented, aged beers made in open vats called coolships. Operating both as a brewery and now living museum (it is still the only/last lambic brewery), they use only organic grains and hops across all beers. Changing yearly, this vintage is made with cherried merlot (55%), spiced grenache noir (35%) and savoury syrah (10%), all from Bordeaux. ‘Saint Lamvinus’ sees eight weeks of soaking, allowing the lambic to extract every last tannin from the grapes, and then aged for 16-18 months metamorphosing. Taste of heaven, dirty burgundy in colour, silky effervescence, plum powder, aged bitterness turning soft, Dionysus’s last meal, mushroom in dead grass & noble hops. Age, age, age, obviously there is nothing wrong with drinking this righteous bevy now, but extend some patience and you will be rewarded in spades.