Beer Review 78: Cantillon Fou Foune 2008

Cantillon Fou Foune.... what can one say other than a near perfect beer form one of the premiere brewery's in the world. Fou Foune is one of the best fruit lambic's produced anywhere, the combination of apricots and the sour and funk of the beer make this liquid treat a true pleasure to consume. This beer transforms throughout its life. Starting as a fruit forward lambic with light acidity and sourness, this beer than becomes more sour/funky as it ages and the fruit begins to take a back seat. Jean Van Roy is a true master in producing fruit lambic's, his work is only matched by a hand full of other brewers in the world. Drinking his beers are a total guilty pleasure. Moreover, Fou Foune is quite expensive to buy and find here in the states. Starting from $25.00 a bottle to anywhere below $35.00, this beer will def leave your wallet hurting, but once you taste this magnificent creation you'll want to spend to get it again. However, finding it can be quite tricky, especially if you live on the west coast like I do. Though this beer is made every year, not much makes it to the states and what does usually stays on the east coast. So how do you go about buying one or finding it.. well you can start buy finding it online and see how much it would cost to get it shipped to you (but trust me this option gets expensive). Or if you are an avid beer trader, find some one with multiple bottles of it and hope he is willing to give one up. Fou Foune comes in 750ml bottles and are the most common ones sold on the market, but they also bottle it in 375ml bottles, but finding these anywhere might be tough as the only ones I've seen have come from Japan. Like all Lambic's, the abv on Fou Foune is low, at 5% one can easily consume a bottle without help and quite quickly(its that good). I recommend enjoying this beer in a tulip or flute to fully enjoy the complexity of this beer, but if you want to be old school and have a vintage Belgian gueuze tumbler glass feel free to use that as well.

Color: A hazy, but yet bright golden/orange. White 1 1/2f finger head that reduces to a thin bubbly cap after awhile. No lacing with light retention

Nose: Apricots what else, but the fruit has definitely faded compared to the fresher batches. Nice funk aroma with hints of wood, hay, and light lemon peel.

Palate: Wow! simply amazing. A perfect amount of carbonation making this beer very drinkable. The apricots hit the tongue first followed the an enjoyable wave of sourness and funk. This beer is dry, but yet it contains a good amount of spritz. At the end you begin to taste the oak/woody textures of this beer.

Finish: Long and dry with a good amount of texture. Mellow fruit which balances the light acidity at the end. An incredible beer that can be consumed fresh and aged.

Rating 98/100
08 vintage score