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Every year, the fine folks at Russian River host a month long fundraiser for breast cancer awareness, with the centerpiece being Framboise For A Cure, a sour blonde ale comprised of 80% Temptation and 20% of something called Sonambic, a new beer they've been working on using a traditional Coolship (just like them official lambic makers). The blend is then aged in Chardonnay barrels with fresh raspberries. It sounds heavenly, no?

Fortunately for me, the owner of Philly institution Monk's Cafe, Tom Peters, is good friends with the folks at Russian River and every year, they host a fundraiser of their own. They even release a small amount of bottles, which, alas, I was not able to secure because I'm lazy and didn't get there until a little after opening. However, I was still fortunate enough to get a taste on tap (and I also picked up another bottle that will no doubt be making an appearance on the blog sometime soon), so let's get going:

Russian River Framboise For A Cure - Bright ruby red color (so many robey tones, you guys), almost no head, though a cap of pinkish hued stuff sticks around so maybe it was just the initial pour or something. Smells of funk, oak, and twangy raspberry. Taste hits that raspberry sweetness up front, oak kicking in towards the middle, with a sourness also coming to the fore in the middle and lasting through the finish, where that raspberry returns and everything ties together. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, crisp and sharp, a little sticky in the finish. Overall, this is a superb, well balanced, complex sour. A

Beer Nerd Details: 6.5% ABV on tap. Drank out of a goblet on 10/19/13.

Because Monk's is awesome, they were also pouring some other limited gems that I couldn't resist... it's for a cure people! And not to go all dudebro on you, but I like breasts. Sue me.

Cantillon Vigneronne - This is a lambic made with hand-picked muscat grapes, and it's apparently one of the rarer varieties due to the scarcity of grapes (not to mention Cantillon's general capacity issues). Pours a clear gold color, again with the no head. Smells like a gueuze, taste has a vinous character matched with gueuze-like oak and biting sourness. It is, perhaps, not quite as powerful as a full gueuze, presumably the influence of the grapes. Mouthfeel has a snap to it, well carbonated, just a bit of stickiness in the finish... Overall, I think drinking these two beers back to back pretty much obliterated my palate, but it was totally worth it, and this was clearly another winner from Cantillon. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV on tap. Drank out of a goblet on 10/19/13.

Not bad for a lowly Saturday afternoon. I'm going to have to find a way to drag myself out of bed earlier next year and maybe snag a bottle. In any case, I was quite happy to try it on tap and as I mentioned, I managed to snag a bottle of something pretty special, so it was a good day, is what I'm saying.

The word "Santé" roughly translates to "to your health", and as such, is often used as a toast, akin to "Cheers" or "Prost" and so on. But in this case, it has a double meaning. Fantôme brewer Danny Prignon brews a new beer every year for a charity that helps those in need of healthcare not provided by standard means, and thus a second meaning of Santé comes into play. That sneaky ghost, always doing the right thing. It's hard to find much info on these beers, but I gather that the recipes are different every year, though they are always saisons (as befitting Fantôme's general nature). This particular edition is actually from 2011, and seems to be particularly well regarded, though it is clearly showing its age at this point:

Fantôme Santé 15! - Pours a golden yellow color with a finger of bubbly white head that quickly resolves into a ring around the edges that stays around for a while. Smells of earthy, fruity funk, Brett is clearly doing its thing here. Taste is very sweet with a surprising fruity note, almost raisiny, like an aged dubbel or quad, though this is clearly its own thing. That Brett kicks in towards the middle with some tart fruit that intensifies into a full blown sour note in the finish. Mouthfeel is on the upper end of medium bodied, with lower than normal carbonation for Fantôme, but still ample enough to work. A bit of stickiness lingers in the finish as well. Overall, this is yet another interesting offering from Fantôme. It's showing its age a bit, but it's really brightening my outlook after a long day at work. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 7% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and corked). Drank out of a goblet on 10/18/13. Bottled July 2011, Released 6&7 August 2011 (charity weekend).

Fantôme continues to fascinate, and I'm always up for trying a bottle of the stuff. You never know what you're going to get.

Tonight was Beer Club, a gathering of beer minded friends from work who get together every month at a local BYOB for libations and fun. This month, someone decided to bring beers she thought would be disgusting. And they were! We should probably discourage this practice, but on the other hand, sometimes you just need to bite the bullet and try some Cave Creek Chili Beer or, in this case, some of Rogue's recent offerings.

Half-blinkered thoughts on each beer are recorded below for posterity, though standard tasting disclaimers apply and I'm a moron so take it all with a grain of salt. In order of drinking (not necessarily the order in the pictar):

• Tired Hands Jason - One of my contributions, and a great way to start the night. I'll probably talk more about this at some other time, but for now it's a very nice, juicy IPA, great hop character and that citrus fruit really comes through. Reminiscent of last year's "Vampire" beer. A-
• Rogue Beard Beer - This beer's gimmick is that it's made using yeast that was found in their head brewer's beard. Sounds appetizing, no? Well, no, but the beer itself was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. It felt sorta like a bland Belgian pale ale, with some light spicy yeast notes and some sweetness. So not the worst thing ever, but perhaps I set the bar too low on this one. B-
• Jerry's Homebrew "SB" - Mystery homebrew from one member who got it from a friend of a friend, or something. Don't know what "SB" stands for, but that's all it was labeled with. But it turned out to be a pretty good beer in the style of a brown ale or soemthing like that. Not something to go crazy over, but a good homebrew. B
• Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Banana Ale - I actually had no real problem with the first Voodoo Doughnut beer, but then again, it's a smoked beer and no one likes those. I don't know why they thought it was a good idea to continue this collaboration with Voodoo Doughnuts, but I guess they're actually selling this stuff. This was a pretty terrible beer. I get hints of that chocolate and peanut butter, but they feel... wrong, like they were buried in Pet Semetary or something. This is an unbalanced, sloppy mess. Not entirely undrinkable, but in no way good. D
• Terrapin Dos Cocoas Chocolate Porter - Now this one gets the chocolate thing right, and the base porter matches really well with it. Not my favorite style ever or anything, but it works well enough. B+
• Trappist Westvleteren 12 - Yep, it's still amazing. Certainly opened some eyes with other folks too.
• Perennial Vermilion Winter Ale - Excellent English style barleywine, lots of caramel, toffee, and almost fruity malt notes, really nice. A little heavy, but that's what you want out of this sort of thing. The sort of beer that makes me want to put on a smoking jacket, sit by a fire next to my bearskin rug on a cold night, making haughty rich person noises. Another eye opener for some folks. Me, I really liked this sucker, and may snag another bottle if it's around (it looks like it was a 2012 one-off, but I've definitely seen it around). A-

And that just about covers it. You may have noticed that it's only been a little over 2 weeks since the last beer club, but we had to reset to the beginning of the month, due to the November and December holidays. So stay tuned, moar to come.

Earlier this year, I got fed up with coming up empty on Cantillon hunts, and in a moment of weakness (or strength, if you prefer) I broke down and ordered several bottles straight from the source. I got some of the "normal" varieties, but was also quite pleased to have snagged a Saint Lamvinus and decided to save the best for last. Along the way, I unexpectedly stumbled onto a bottle of Fou' Foune, and I'm really glad I had these two beers in relatively close proximity because they share a lot of character, while still being distinct. Now, for whatever reason, Fou' Foune is hyped to high heaven (even for a Loon), while Saint Lamvinus is merely a prized masterpiece.

If the opinions of a bunch of strangers on the internet are to be believed, these two beers are either of identical quality (both being rated 3.98), or the Fou' Foune is slightly better than its saintly brother (4.62 vs 4.51, which are both obscenely high). They both seem to be pretty rare, though maybe Fou' Foune is moreso. They are both exceptional beers and are very reminiscent of each other. Maybe people like apricots more than grapes, eh? Or, you know, who cares? It's great beer, I'm just going to drink it.

So this is made with merlot and cabernet-franc grapes which are soaked in Bordeaux barrels containing two to three years old lambic. Typical lambics are blended with "young" lambic to ensure the bottle conditioning generates enough carbonation, but the Saint Lamvinous is unblended. In place of young lambic, Cantillon sez they ensure carbonation in the bottle through the "addition of a liquor which starts the fermentation". I suppose we could get into a whole wine versus beer thing at this point, but ultimately, Cantillon is doing its own thing, and they're doing it very well:

Cantillon Saint Lamvinus - Pours a deep ruby color with a finger or two of lightly pink, dense head. Smells of musty funk, oak, cherry, and grapes. Taste is sweet, with the grapes coming through, but not quite reaching Welches levels, if you know what I mean. The funk and light oak presence give it a nice kick that prevents it from being too fruity or too vinous. A nice tart sourness pervades the taste, escalating at the start, peaking in the middle and fading through the finish. Vinegar, cherries, grapes, tart sourness, funk, oak, this is very complex but well integrated. Mouthfeel is lightly bodied, crisp, and dry in the finish. Compulsively drinkable, a little lighter than expected, but still very nice. Overall, this is amazing stuff, easily the equal of Fou' Foune and again, it was a very similar experience, with the major difference being the fruit used... A

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and corked). Drank out of a flute glass on 8/24/13. Bottled 21 November 2012. Best before November 2022.

I've stashed away a bottle or two of duplicates, but have otherwise run out of new Loons. I will, of course, be scouring the earth to get my hands on more (including a potential Iris sighting), so I'm sure you'll see more Cantillon soon.

Tonight was Beer Club, a gathering of beer minded folk from my work who get together every month at a local BYOB for drinkery and fun. A light turnout this week, so we didn't actually get through every beer pictured below, but we made a valiant effort and actually drank a few that aren't pictured. I know, I'm disappointed by my neglect to capture those additional beers in photographic form too, but we'll just have to live with this:

(Click for larger version)

Standard tasting note disclaimers apply: these notes are not trustworthy in any way, shape, or form, because whatever, I had fun tonight. In approximate order of consumption, not necessarily how pictured.

• Fantôme Saison - One of my contributions, it seems that Fantôme hasn't quite emerged from their smoky, rubbery funk phase just yet, though this one wasn't quite as janky as the one I reviewed recently. It actually had more of a Saison Dupont feel, with just a bit of smoky, barnyard funk to make things interesting. I'll keep it at a B+ and pine for the lemony, sour Fantômes of yore.
• Dale's Pale Ale - Pretty standard fare, but excellent as such beers go. Always a good choice, and I'll hit it with a B+, just like before.
• Kaedôme Saison (regular version) - So my regular homebrewed saison is actually drinking quite well at this point, big spicy yeast notes, plenty of Saaz hops, not as much Nelson Sauvin hops as I was going for, but quite a pleasant brew nonetheless. About half the batch is still in secondary, dosed with Brettanomyces (like Fantôme, hence the name of this beer). Probably still a few months away from that sucker, but even this non-funky version is doing pretty well. Another B+
• Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale - Rock solid hoppy amber ale, not quite as mindblowing as some of those hoppy imperial reds, but a worthy, highly drinkable beer. Yet another B+. I swears, not everything in this post will be rated the same.
• Ken's English White Beer - My buddy's homebrew, this one was made with wheat, rose hips, and an English ale yeast. A rather odd combination, but it works out reasonably well in the end. Nice wheat character, not much in the way of rose hips, but some English yeast character (thankfully without the diacetyl note that I often get from such yeasts)> Not a mind-blower, but a nice summer beer. B-
• Ken's Roggenbier - Another of Ken's homebrews, and possibly my favorite of the homebrews tonight. Nice spicy rye character mixed with hefeweizen notes from the yeast. Really nice combination that works very well. B+
• Port City Essential Pale Ale - Terrible. Ok, not quite that bad, but not particularly good either. A sorta muddy mess of hops and malt, never quite coalescing into good.C+
• Dominion Oak Barrel Stout - Now this one is legitimately terrible. Ok, so some people like that British diacetyl note sometimes, but I cannot stand it, and it just overshadowed everything else about this beer for me. Not undrinkable, but definitely not good. D
• Stone / Farking / Wheaton W00tstout - Ah, now we come to my favorite beer of the night, the Wil Wheaton collaboration with Stone and Fark.com, a huge imperial stout made with pecans, wheat, and rye, partially aged in bourbon barrels. Great rich sweetness, a hint of that bourbon and oak, with a nice overall malt character. A bit heavy, but quite a nice beer, really glad I got to try some. A-
• Ken's Irish red Ale - Another homebrew, this time a pretty straightforward Irish Red that was made with potatoes, a pretty nice combo. Sweeter than your typical Irish Red, though it keeps that same flavor profile and works well enough. I'll go with a standard B for this one.

And that just about covers it. For those who saw the Eclipse beer in the picture and are upset that we didn't get to it, do not fear, I reviewed it a while back. You're welcome. See you next month...

I'm not generally one for the pomp and circumstance of serving beer. Maybe it's just because the most elaborate process I've seen is the ridiculous 9 step ritual for serving Stella Artois. That's a lot of work for very little payoff, if you ask me. So anyway, whilst perusing the beer menu at a local establishment, I spied some of that prized Cantillon Fou' Foune and went in on a bottle with some friends. Now we all know Cantillon's stellar reputation, but the hype surrounding this particular loon (a lambic made with apricots) goes well beyond even that. It cost a pretty penny too, but that's softened somewhat by splitting the bottle (that being said, if you can find it, ordering direct from Belgium and paying the obscene shipping would probably work out to a similar price) and we were pretty happy to ritualize the tasting of this stuff.

Our original plan was to take it home and enjoy there, but the bar requires the bottle to be opened on the premises, as they've apparently run into douchebags who would buy bottles from them, then turn around and sell them online for a stiff markup. This is a topic I've bludgeoned to death before, so I'll leave it at that. But one advantage to having it at the bar was that pomp and circumstance. Check out the proper brewery glassware and that swanky lambic serving basket:

But as with the likes of Stella, ritual sez nothing about what's in the bottle, so let's find out if this khaki whale lives up to the hype:

Cantillon Fou' Foune - Pours a very pretty golden color. Nose is pure apricot and musty funk. Very nice. Taste has that beautiful oak aged character, with a big fruity, tart pop, moderate sourness. Intense and complex, but very well balanced. Mouthfeel is very well carbonated, crisp, a little acidic, some vinegar, perfect proportions. Overall, superb, delicious, would drink again (for the sarcasm impaired, this means that I'll be scouring the earth to find more bottles). A

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and corked). Served from a lambic basket to a Cantillon flute.

I would have taken better notes, but then, I was trying to be social and felt bad enough scribbling in shorthand into my phone for a minute. Anywho, it's been a pretty fantastic few weeks here at Kaedrin. Things will likely not remain so exciting, but stay tuned, there's lots of fantastic beer on deck here at Kaedrin HQ, and a potential Vermont trip in the near future may result in more fun.

Just when you think you've got your head wrapped around the saison style, Dany Prignon drops a bomb like this on your face. No stupid memes necessary, just look at the damn stuff. Brewed with Green Tea (and Prignon's usual secret spices), it looks like friggin' Ecto Cooler, so strap on your proton packs. We've got some ghosts to drink:

Fantôme Magic Ghost - Sweet merciful crap, look at that stuff. It looks like straight up ecto cooler. A vivid green color with a finger of, yep, very light green head. Calls to mind crappy St. Patricks day stunts, but this is anything but. Listen! Do you smell something? It actually smells utterly fantastic, great tangy funk (none of that smokey stuff that you see in recent regular Fantômes), some spice, and green tea - a surprisingly harmonious combination. Fortunately, the taste bears that out. The funky Brett character is perfect right now, slight fruity tartness, well balanced with traditional saison spice and sweetness, with that tea taking a bit of a back seat, but still present and harmonious. Lots of complexity, tea coming out a little more as it warms up. Mouthfeel is well carbonated, medium bodied, crisp, and a little on the dry side. Really pleasant to drink. Overall, this works shockingly well. Matching this sort of complexity with this sort of balance is difficult. I cannot believe this sucker, probably my favorite Fantôme since my first taste. A

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and corked). Drank out of a tulip glass on 7/5/13. Lot no: b. Best before: February 2014.

I've heard that the color can vary on these, that some pour out an almost neon green, and some are darker or more of an olive green. I found mine to be more on the brighter side, not quite neon, but dark enough that I found it difficult to photograph (I took some pictures that were barely green at all). Anywho, Fantôme continues to blow my mind. Even when I don't particularly love something, it's always an interesting experience, and while some may poo-poo the inconsistency between batches, I find that to be part of their charm. Stay tuned, more Ghost reviews in the coming weeks.

In 2004, head Cantillon brewer Jean Van Roy was supes excited that his hometown football (that's soccer to us Yanks) team won a championship, so he cracked some barrels of 2 year old lambic, dry hopped it for good measure, then bottled his Cuvée des Champions! Sadly, it seems that Brussels' soccer club Union St. Gilles has since fallen on hard times, to the point where a disgusted¹ Jean Van Roy decided that "he could not in good conscience dedicate the beer to 'Champions.'" As such, the beer is now named a less celebratory Cuvée St-Gilloise².

It's labeled a Gueuze, but it's not really a blend of younger and older beers, just that swanky 2 year old stuff. This makes me wonder why the "Cuvée" moniker, though I suppose there's still blending of different barrels going on here. As for the dry-hopping, RateBeer sez they used Styrian Goldings, but this guy sez they changed to Hallertau. It's an interesting and uncommon tweak for lambics, but I don't think either hop variety would tweak American hopheads all that much and this bottle is pretty old, so I'm sure the aroma has faded considerably. Not that I'm complaining, as this was still rather awesome.

Cantillon Cuvée St-Gilloise (AKA Cuvée Des Champions) - Pours a bright golden yellow color with a couple fingers of bubbly white head. Smells of funky, lightly earthy Brett, with lots of fruity notes, lemony, almost more like a funky saison than guezue. Taste is bright and fruity, lemony, nice subtle oak character (which opens up a little more as it warms), with a well matched sourness emerging quickly, bringing that guezue character big time. Mouthfeel is light, crisp, and refreshing, a little thinner than some other gueuzes, but not in a bad way, and it's highly drinkable too. Overall, this is great, why do I need to rate these? They're all so damn good. A-

Beer Nerd Details: 5% ABV bottled (750 ml capped and corked). Drank out of a Tired Hands glass on 6/28/13. Bottled 12 November 2012. Best before November 2022.

Danger: lambic reserves have reached critical levels. Only one or two left. Fortunately, I've got a line on some (probably not Cantillon though) that I might be able to grab next week. Fingers crossed. Also worth noting that I've saved the supposed best for last, but you'll just have to wait a couple weeks to read about that sucker.

¹ - As a Philadelphia sports fan, my notions of sport fandom are probably much different than Jean Van Roy's, to the point where he would probably describe "disgusted" as an exaggeration. In Philly, such a description would be much more vivid and colorful, involving expletives and threats of violence, so I find "disgusted" to be a decent compromise.

² - But on the other hand, he's still dedicating a beer to his hometown team - so he's no bandwagon fan either.