Cantillon Lambic d'Haute Densité

Description

Lambic d'Haute Densité, or High Density Lambic, is an experimental lambic brewed to attain a high alcohol content. The final result is a 9.1% ABV and 8° Plato beer with little carbonation. Cantillon described this beer on their facebook page as being "close to a Barley Wine or an oxidized wine like Madeira, Sherry or Vin Jaune."

History

The creation of Lambic d'Haute Densité started in 2010 when Cantillon brewed a high-alcohol lambic resulting in a 9.7% ABV beer with 8° Plato residual sugar. This was repeated in 2011 resulting in a lambic of 8.7% ABV. The brewery wrote in June of 2013 that "because of the high alcohol level, we had no more evolution after 2 years and we decide to blend those two brews and to bottle it in February of this year." Thus the Lambic d'Haute Densité was born.

This beer was bottled into bulbous 750ml bottles and corked with a 2013 cork. It was first served at The Festival in Portland, Maine between June 21st and June 22nd put on by Shelton Brothers and 12% Imports. At The Festival, this beer was labeled with 375ml yellow Cantillon Classic Gueuze labels with no cap (cork only). Though some bottles mistakenly left the confines of the festival, the remaining bottles were returned to Cantillon by Shelton Brothers as it was never intended for public distribution.

On April 29, 2014, Cantillon and drinkbelgianbeer.com posted photos on Facebook of a six-liter bottle of the Lambic d'Haute Densité with many more in the background. These are in Cantillon's Underground Cellar for long term storage. ^[1] ^[2]

Lambic d'Haute Densité has also been served at Akkurat and is pictured with a different label and bottling date than has previously been seen. Further research is ongoing, as Cantillon stated on their Facebook page that the initial bottling occurred in February 2013.

Bottle Log

Bottle Date	Cork Date	Bottle Size	Label / Notes	Image Link
02/2013	2013	750ml	Yellow 375ml Cantillon Classice Gueuze label, initially un-capped, served at Shelton Brothers Festival
04/04/2013	2013	750ml	White label that reads LHD with a bottling date, served at Akkurat

Label

On May 7, 2013 a rear label was approved for Lambic d'Haute Densité in the United States.^[3] It is unknown whether or not these labels were actually used.