Tasting Note :

A hazy coppery-amber colour with a light beige head that dissipates quickly.
The aroma is very sour and vinegar, but with a little underlying malt too.
The taste is bitterlemon-like, sour which eventually gives way to a degree of malt sweetness...
Light bodied and medium carbonated.
The finish is longlasting and lemon-dry sour.

Brewery Note :

Although it is a spontaneous fermentation beer, the Iris is very different from the Lambic. The bitter and slightly caramelized taste make it a delicate and rich beer. Pure heaven. Re-fermentation in the bottle.
The Cantillon brewery is closely linked to Brussels, a city which has the iris as its symbol.
The Iris, which is only made with malt of the pale ale type (giving a more amber colour to the beer) conserves the typical flavour of the spontaneous fermentation, the complex aromas and the vinous taste.

Lambic is made with 100% dried hops, for the Iris the brewery uses 50% of dried hops and 50% of fresh hops. The latter cause a superb acidity, the former, due to their tannins, enable to conserve the beer while preserving all its qualities.

After two years in the barrel, the Iris undergoes a second fresh hopping two weeks before the bottling. A linen bag, filled with hops, is soaked in the beer for two weeks. This technique, called cold hopping, gives the beer a more intense savour and makes the smell and the taste more bitter.

Iris is brewed only once every season and all the beers come from the same brewing. This is why the beer is dated. The second fermentation is obtained by adding liquor.
The brewery recommends to serve the beer at a temperature between 12 and 16°C.