Tilquin is one of the smaller lambic brewers; they make two beers, their Oude Geuze (1, 2, and 3 year lambics), and their plum lambic (Oude Quetsche). This year they also did a small batch of blackberry, Oude Mûre, which is the bottle above.

Scenic balcony not included

I’m a big fan of Tilquin’s regular geuze, and this bottle doesn’t stray far from it. Same funk/barnyard notes, not too tart. The berry flavor comes out mostly as underripe blackberry or raspberry; lemony and tangy, but not the rich dark fruit flavors of a ripe blackberry off the vine.  It’s most like the blackberry character from the Almanac’s Farmers Reserve, if you’ve tried that bottle.

As you can see from the picture, the color is beautiful, and the head is mostly non-existent. I expect this is a bottle that would improve with time in a cellar, given that there is less of that fresh fruit character to lose, and it could do with a little more carbonation.

The Tilquin Mûre is a neat beer, and if you’re lucky enough to see it you should buy one and let it sit a year or two.

Cantillon Rose De Gambrinus. Sorry for the NSFW graphic. I don’t make the labels, I just drink the beers.

The Cantillon was up front with funky lambic flavor. The raspberry character was somewhat reserved, more the flavor of tart underripe berries. Probably the pinkest beer I have ever drunk.

Girardin Framboise (top center)

Girardin’s showing was less funky, with jammy raspberries front and center. Beautiful ruby color. Pretty tasty stuff, but there was a bitterness at the end that bordered on unpleasant. The last is partly my fault, the bottle fell over carrying to the concert and the sediment got mixed in and poured into the glass.

Berry lovers/lambic novices are probably better off with Girardin, but if you like what Cantillon does you will want the Gambrinus. Both are very approachable, and worth buying if you see them. This will probably be when you’re out of the country; Cantillon has a big reputation and is hard to find in the US, while Girardin has no US distribution at all. Both can be had at Cave a Bulles in Paris, or you could just go to Belgium where they make the stuff.

Also I should add a brief warning: most framboise lambics you will see in a grocery store are garbage beer full of artificial sweetener. Please don’t read this post then run out and buy a bunch of Lindemans.