Cantillon Lou Pepe - Framboise
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Description
Lou Pepe Framboise is part of Cantillon's Lou Pepe series which is bottled on a regular basis. The series also contains Lou Pepe Gueuze and Lou Pepe-Kriek. Lou Pepe Framboise is made from two year old lambic that has been aged exclusively in used Bordeaux barrels. Whereas Cantillon's Kriek 100% Lambic and Rosé de Gambrinus lambics contain 200 g of frozen fruit per liter, the Lou Pepe fruited beers contain about 300 g of fresh fruit per liter.[1] To carbonate the beer, a small amount of sweet liquor is added at bottling causing the refermentation in the bottle.
According to Cantillon's official website, "the particular name of these beers comes from the south-west of France, a region the Cantillon family is very fond of. In this beautiful region, the grandfather is called Lou Pepe."[1]
In 2025 after rumours that the beer was discontinued due to fruit increase in Rosé de Gambrinus making these beers too similar, Jean Van Roy confirmed that he didn't plan to release a new Lou Pepe Framboise in the future as it wasn't particularely aging well, becoming too acetic with time, though he conceeded, "never say never". There is also too many similarities with another beer release regularely, but according to him it is Magic Lambic, and not Rosé de Gambrinus which became indeed more aromatic with time, but it is only due to a change in the raspberry aromatic that evolved over the year (probably with global warming) rather than an increase in quantities added to the beer, which didn't happen. [2]
History / Other notes
Lou Pepe Framboise, as with the other Lou Pepe bottlings, comes with two dates: a vintage date and a bottling/cork date. The dates are generally two years apart, with the vintage date shown as a sticker on the bottle above the label.
Some reviews mention that there may be 375 mL bottles of this beer in existence, Jean Van Roy confirmed that rumour to be false, the only Lou Pepe beer made in that size being Lou Pepe-Kriek.
Label
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U.S. label approval application, 2001
European Label:
The Lou Pepe Framboise, a well balanced beer with a rich fruit flavour, is made by adding raspberries to two year old lambic chosen for it's fine taste and it's flavors.
Beer with an evolving taste. Keep and serve at cellar temperature (12-15C). Best before: 10 years after the bottling date.
Ingredients: Malt, wheat, hops, raspberries (300 g/L)
Bottle Log
References
- ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 https://www.cantillon.be/framboise-lou-pepe-en Cantillon - Framboise Lou Pepe
- ↑ Lambic.Info Interview with Jean Van Roy, february 2025
Photos