Cantillion Gueze

Cantillion Gueze is a blend of one, two and three year-old lambics. Lambics are beers fermented spontaneously by naturally occurring yeasts from the atmosphere. Gueze is an unflavored style of lambic. Generally, lambics are flavored with fruit to make them sweeter and more palatable. Gueze are not sweetened, leaving their sour, funky and tart flavors unfettered. 

Cantillion Gueze is complex, acidic, mouth-puckering, and very dry. The overwhelming flavor characteristic is tart, there are no sour notes. The coloring is muddy reddish brown. The aroma and flavor are similar. Both have a lemon zest character and are reminiscent of unsweetened lemon meringue pie. 

  

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 2008 vs 2009

This marks the first time BK Beertasters goes vertical. I recently reviewed Bigfoot 2009. It's super hoppy (90 IBUs) and features an aggressive bitter finish. It's confusingly similar to a double IPA and so hoppy that the malt characteristics don't shine through at this point. 

Bigfoot 2008's body is leaner and longer. 2009's body is tight, which is a good thing in certain circumstances. 2008's aroma is brothy and appealing. It smells like lightly burnt caramel, and is candy-like. There isn't a touch of hops in the aroma or flavor aside from the bitter pine finish. 2008's flavor is predominately malty, with notes of bread and cookie. Bigfoot is more elegant and refined after a year of aging, but it quickly loses its heavy dose of hop flavor and aroma.  

The other difference between Bigfoot '08 and '09 is the labeling. Mike Krzyzewski still recruits jerks, and I hate Duke as much as stupid beer labels. The worst quality of Bigfoot 2008 from an aesthetic standpoint is the unexplained label change. The classic label is great (pictured on the right), but in 2008, Sierra Nevada departed from the classic label for a landscape scene (pictured left). 2009 compromises by reincorporating the beers name sake in an updated version of the classic label for the 25th anniversary (top left).