Here at Cantillon, we’re no strangers to experimentation. In the early 50’s, Paul Cantillon tried blending Lambic and oranges. The result wasn’t exactly spectacular.
The refermentation in the bottles was so strong, that the brewery workers at the time were forced to sprint past the bottles through the cellar in order to avoid being hit by popping corks and drenched in beer. Our grandfather Marcel Cantillon loved this story, and often loved to tell it to us as children.
So 70 years later, inspired by our great-grandfather, we’ve made a special blend of Lambic and citrus (a blend featuring mostly oranges) in his honor.
The acidity of the beer and the fruit and the freshness of the citrus in contrast to the bitterness of their zests makes for a particularly thirst-quenching Zwanze. The name Parasol will remind my fellow Belgians of a certain age of the orange-flavored soft-drink of the same name we used to drink back in the day.