What even is lambic? | The Craft Beer Channel
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- Опубликовано: 6 апр 2021
- We talk a lot about sour beer, but how does lambic fit in and is sour even the best word for it? We dig into exactly what lambic beer is, how it's made, where it's from and how the techniques have spread around the world as part of a whole new beer revolution.
Learn more about Lambic's protection here: eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conte...
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First had the 3 Fonteinen OUde Geuze at a Beerfest near me a couple years back, and it transformed what I thought beer could be.
I did the same with a Boon Geuze about a year before most of the B-roll in the video was shot.
Lambic beers are my favourite kind of beers. I was visiting Cantillon and 3 fonteinen breweries 4 months ago and got to take many different lambic beers home. these beers have such a unique and amazing flavors and aromas .
Some friends, and more and more people here in Belgium, buy Lambic (fi from the Boon brewery), and brew their own Geuze at their homes. They experiment with it, add some fruits, bottle them in small amounts (10, 20, 50 bottles) and organize tastings for friends. It is stunning how good these beers taste. Ofcourse, not all experiments are succesful. So... you can blend your own way, you can call it another lovely day.
Something I've been tempted to do for a long long time! Great to hear others haven't sat on their hands.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel If you want to add (any) fruits: most of them do it 50/50 or 40/60, even with peppers or smoked peaches, blackberry, blue berry,... elderflower is very nice too
My knowledge of all things beer and specifically the spontaneous wild fermentation of Lambic beer came from watching the great Michel Jackson's (no, not that one) The Beer Hunter years ago and reading his excellent books. You are carrying on a great tradition and I look forward to each video. Great stuff guys!
I guess Im pretty randomly asking but do anybody know a good website to watch new tv shows online?
@Emmitt Kyrie I dunno I use Flixportal. You can find it by googling :D -alonso
@Alonso Jaden Thank you, I signed up and it seems to work :) Appreciate it !
@Emmitt Kyrie happy to help :)
Now, this was a huge hole in my knowledge (actually my knowledge is mostly hole). Glad I stopped by!
At my birth myfather bought a crate of geuze. When i turned 18 we opened the first bottle and for the next 24 years it was an anniversary tradition between my father and i.
What an amazing story! Which geuze was it and how did it stand up?
@@TheCraftBeerChannel I never new after 18 years in a cellar the labels were gone and to be honest at that age I wasn't interested in what it was. Only that it was a "real" beer that I was drinking with my father. And for the taste. The first few years I wasn't able to appreciate the complexity of it. But once I had learned it grew better every year. The last bottle was the best beer I ever drank like a 25 year old grand cru
Oowww i love lambic's!!! Just this weekend i had a Mikkeller x Boon Henri and was blown away by it.
the part about the barrels giving off wood flavour made me think about the Brabantiae i had at Cantillion. That one had crazy wood flavors, one of the best beers i ever had.
In love with Lambics, since my first lambic, the unbeaten Cantillon Gueuze. Lambics are the beers where you can see best that brewing is also an art.
Indeed, I hope they do one on the Flanders Sours, like Rodenbach also..
Well said
Here in Mexico the only brewery that has a coolship is Compañía Cervecera Hércules, many others are releasing wild beer, but in the case of Hercules, they took it to the lambic level. Great beers are coming out of that brewery.
My first lambic was Girardin Black Label, quite an experience :) Asked a barman in some Brugge brasserie for something unusual and he didn't let me down. Loved the style ever since
Haha a bold barman! Good on you and him.
Superb video. Very informative.
great video lads, thanks
Love lambics. My 2nd most favourite beer. 1st being flemish red ales (Rodenbach Grand Cru!!). Since you now explained the difference between lambic and "sour" in general (those that just add lactobacillus) I would love to see you guys compare the style of flemish red ale and Oud bruin
! Pleaaaaaaase do this! You guys are so good at explaining. Best educational beer channel!
If you haven't yet, try Rodenbach vintage (better than grand cru) and Ichtegem's Grand Cru. Those are remarkable beers. My personal favorite is Vanderghinste Oud Bruin. Cheers :)
3 Fonteinen is brewed in Beersel, a town which actually isn't located in the Pajottenland region but the Zenne and Zoniën region.
The "border" between those (unofficial) regions would be the Zenne River running south to north.
While the Pajottenland is more a landscape of rolling hills Zenne & Zoniën is a rougher and more wooded landscape.
If you go there don't forget to visit the medieval Beersel castle, preferably before you drink any alcohol.
I've always found this style of beer the most interesting. Great video!
Love love this clip. Thanks so much for the beautiful education. Great work.
The lactic acid production in Lambic beers is mainly attributed to various Pediococcus strains (and small amounts of Lactobacillus), while for a Flanders Red (oud bruin/oud rood), Lactobacillus strains are the main lactic acid-producing bacteria. Great vid!
Hey Rik - you got a source for that?! Would love to read around that kind of info.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Hi, I guess it will be mentioned by Jeff Sparrow in his book 'Wild Brews'
Would love you to do a episode like this on wheats and weisse. I find those styles are often looked down on but can be fantastic.
German wheat beers are exquisite :)
Lovely video - I discovered lambic and spontaneous fermentation through watching the channel and so it's nice to see a "what even is" about it. I picked up a Mort Subite gueuze lambic from CentrAle in Newcastle train station when I was back over Christmas and was blown away, it was a fabulous beer. Also, "rewilding beer" is a great term!
Awesome to hear we took you on that journey!
You sir are a true beer geek!! ....in a good way
Haha cheers! Always beer geeks, never beer snobs.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel ive just ordered a lambic to be delivered for the weekend on the back of this...
Lambic is manna from heaven. Ive got a couple of bottles from Allagash’s coolship in the cellar. Ive got some bottles of their 25th anniversary cuvee too! Great stuff. Glad you have some resurgam. Its great
I am watching this video for the third time since you published.. Lambics and Geuze are the nirvana of beers, and I love them along with all other Belgian Ales.. I just purchased a bottle of 3 fonteinen and a bottle of Tilquin today.. Plus, its so enjoyable to watch you guys..
Great video breaking down a beer lots of people find intimidating! Once you get into it though, you'll never go back!
Great vid, I’m hoping to do some home brew rodenbach!
Fantastic episode guys! Lambic is probably my favorite style of beer! (probably, because i crave different style at different times, but if i could only stick to one, it would most likely be Lambic).
You sort of "forgot" to mention, or rather probably out of scope of the video, but these beers ages fantastically and the oude and bottle conditioned/fermented ones really changes over time, so its worth buying a bunch and try them at different ages too!
Cheers guys!
Too fascinating thanks so much! It ties in with a lot I do in composting. There is going to be more than yeasts active, it is a pretty interesting "micro herd" that can and will collect in a sugary wort. Using hops to supress pathogens and keep dominance to 3 microbes is fascinating! It really is the most intersting brewing process I have ever heard explained.
Cheers! I believe there are around 80 different microbes pretty much always found in lambic, but the 3 (or rather 4 including acetobacter) bacteria dominate alongside ale and lager yeasts and brett.
best regards from subscriber and thanks for chart-props ;)
RAMI! No way! Thanks so much for watching and for the amazing chart - I got very excited when I first saw it.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel i was shocked too, when saw this knot of lines after drawing it ;) keep up great work, guys! :)
Allagash is great - was able to get a personal tour a couple years ago and it was a genuine pleasure + honor. While aren't as familiar with those styles believe to know my palette pretty well and Coolship is mouth-watering deliciousness. Cheers!
It is a magical place!
Such cool content! Discovered the channel a week ago, and haven’t stopped watching since.
Really liked that map by Rami. Can we get that somewhere?
We got it from via the Lambic.info forum, so should be in there! Glad you are enjoying the channel!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel hmmm, I turned that site inside out, must been taken down. 🙁
Thanks for posting this. I just subscribed and now I can binge-watch you :) I'm Flemish and live in Belgium and yes 'our' gueuzes are fascinating to drink , but somewhat of an acquired taste. Bradford did a very nice YTvideo on Lindemans.
❤ lambic was first beer brewery I visited many moons ago
I have a Coolship Resurgam and a Coolship Red (raspberries) in my refrigerator, waiting for a special event. Allagash Coolship beers are some of my favorites.
Errr actually.... This channel is very informative. Great job Jonny and Brad!! 🍺
Hahaha thanks Oli.
this is unbelievable. anyone interested in good beer should watch this. wish I was there for the tasting. and yes, Allagash is phenomenal even being stateside
Thanks Larry!
Fun fact. The 3 Fonteinen Gueuze is actually a blend of old (2-3 years) lambics only. Armand the owner/headbrewer believes that „this is the way”. And therefore he has to prime it before bottling as you would with a regular Belgian Ale. Other Gueuzes that use the mentioned 1-2-3 year old mixing don’t need priming sugar since the 1 year old lambic provides it.
Yeah, not sure that is entirely true.
I still have geuze that I bought from the old 3F brewery where Armand himself talked about them being a blend of 1, 2, and 3 year old lambic, other than the 2011 Golden Blend, with also had 4 year old added.
Also, Michael took over from Armand a while ago with a noticeable change in the sharpness/acidity of 3F beers.
Only ever tried once, and I can't remember which Gueuze...it was a long Autum eve with friends (so who cares, maybe!) in Falstaff in Brussels 10 years ago. What is etched on my mind is grapefruit and pig - maybe you'll recognise it from that!
Loved the description of beer as “erogenous”…😂 8:29
OMG... Oud Beersel Kriek Vieille is da bomb... love it 😍 and where can I get that distribution map at 10:40?
Yes, that’s my favourite. It’s actually relatively expensive in Belgium compared to other labics.
I found this out when I visited there. Top shelf beer.
Drinking a Coolship Resurgam while watching this! Great video. Do you happen to have a link to that blending chart? I did some research using the info that you highlighted but I can't seem to find anything. Cheers!
I firmly believe that the Armand 4 Season gueze's are some of the finest beers ever made. Incredibly complex and nuanced from one to the other. Because each one came from a different season each one is different. Lente (Spring) is the general favorite, but personally I love the full bodied robustness of the both Winter and Herfst (Fall). But when it comes to fruit lambics, no one beats Cantillon. Lou Pepe Kriek is one of the only perfect scores I have given a beer. Of course, gone are the days where you can easily find any of these beers. I was lucky enough to snag a 3F Aardbei (Strawberry) lambic that I am saving for New Years. But if you see anything from 3F and Cantillon on the shelf, get it. Any beer they make is fantastic. De Cam is very good as well.
This could easily have been a 1h show. Lambic is awesome and with a very interesting history and tradition.
I hope the Tour de Geuze is happening in 2022, but at least the Megablend will be released on April 30 and I'm lookníng so much forward to that.
Btw, it looked like footage from Cantillon and where else?
great video and well explained. I just had a glass of Rose de Gambrinus by Cantillon and this video appeared. creepy hahaha
We're watching you.
Synchronicity.
Hi guys great ep! Where did you get the "who blends from who" pictogram?
Afraid we're not sure but we'll see if we can track it down again!
Feel like it´d be wrong to not mention: I live in a major brewing area, grew up in a neighborhood here named after Hiram Walker, original brewer of Canadian Club, and the brewery (walkerville brewery) produces a lot of beers now. Their easy stout got me into stout. If you can ever pick up one of their beers that´s been shipped properly, I´d recommend. Another popular nearby brewery (a short drive from here) is Flying Monkey, their beers are either great or meh though, depending on the kind.
Learnt something more than expected. A few years back I made a meadowsweet ale which got infected and turned to gloop it was so bizarre. I couldn't figure it out as I'd never seen such a thing. Lo and behold it was probably pediococcus that avoided the scalding somehow! So it's good to know I've inadvertently got experience with pedio.
With that aside I've finally learnt and understood the difference between lambic and gueze! Is there a style of beer from Belgium that isn't good?
Wish I could get my hands on some really funky lambics, was too impatient to allow my last one to age and gain that extra funk in the bottle.
They should come pretty funky in bottle from the start! Maybe try some of the rarer blends - Boon Black Label, 3F Armand Gaston or Golden Blend, or if you want SERIOUS funk grab a Hanssens Geuze.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel thanks for the recommendations! I had Boon's mainstream bottling of their oude geuze but I'll try and get myself a Hanssens next time as I do want all the funk :D
There is bitterness being added through oxidised beta acids in aged hops which are water soluable but do not inhibit microrganisms.
Very informative as always. Now tell me, when is the brads next low brau episode please. I need a simpler approach, some home made moonshine fermented in an old paint pot for example. Red wine made from an aldi's cartoon on grape juice and strained though a sweaty sock for some real funk would be another inspired idea. Real artisan brewing. Come on the brad let's get in done.
Haha... worryingly you are not far off a plan we have for a video. But not a low brau one.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel don't tell me you guys are thinking about trying to make spontaneous beer? What a hell of a video that would be!
I need to drink these other kinds of beers. I keep going to the beer store and just buying ipas and stouts.
You are not alone! It is the default of most beer geeks, us included!
Another notable characteristic of "traditional" Lambic is the use of aged hops.
Girardin black label is my tentatively chosen lambic of choice: after twenty five years of tasting. I do reserve the right to change my mind. Possibly tomorrow.
Wish there were more modern craft beer brewers that would try to create fresh lambics instead of releasing the same IPA over and over again
Yes lambic is apart. Just to make it clear though that gose at it’s most authentic is a mixed ferment or spont, and is not kettle soured. Also Berliner Weiße at its must authentic is a mixed ferment with later addition brett - Kindl went over to kettle souring to produce a more industrial product some decades ago
You are totally right. The definitions have been butchered by breweries making them in the kettle sour fashion!
Fantastic video for explaining a fantastic style(s) of beer. It's difficult not to gatekeep these days when you see, and enjoy, the work that goes into these beers versus the prevailing context of "mmm gr8 hype custard literally tastes like melted gummy bears lol no bitterness nom 4.75". I always pinch the words of Michael Jackson if I'm ever explaining my lambic love to someone: ruclips.net/video/ueWDWg7zxPo/видео.html , absolute poetry! Cheers.
Labics are not style brewed in Australia and so the only ones you can find are imported. I'm interested in trying them but I have no basis for comparison for what a good one taste's like. I tried 3 fonteinen oude geuze a while ago. But the overwhelming flavour was one of vinegar. I'm not sure if this is what should be coming through. Are lambics impacted by long distance shipment? Do the continue to change in the bottle?
Well you do get the odd bad bottle of lambic, being a seasonal product it has good and bad vintages as well as some bottles where the seal isnt perfect and it oxdisises or remains flat. So it could be that... but it could also be your palate is sensitive to the vinegar flavours. I'd suggest tracking down a boon marriage parfait or Boon Black label - they are VERY consistent.
I know this is a little off-topic but I've heard people describe Duchesse De Bourgogne as red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Does that mean there's a high amount of acetobacter going into its fermentation?
100%. That beer has lots of that acetic vibe, which combined with the other bacteria and the darker malts comes off as balsamic. It doesn't seem so harsh thanks to the balance of the beer.
Flanders Red/Brown producers use a pitchable mix of yeast and bacteria, including acetobacter.
They are one of the few beer styles, if not the only one, that actually welcome and encourage acetobacter.
They also pasteurise their beers to keep the acetobacter levels under control.
3F, on the other hand, hate any trace of acetobacter, dumping any batch or barrel that shows any signs of infection.
Great video guys! 🍻🍻 However pleeeeese don't mix up Berliner Weisse and Gose with the fruited kettle soured beers breweries (read Omnipollo) are doing now. I know they use these style names a lot, however it has nothing to do with the real stuff. 😘😘
Haha I take your point, but equally IPA has little do with what IPA was and same for many imperial stouts. We need some way to separate the salt/coriander bases from the straight lacto ones!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Yeah, definitely true! However... classic Berliner Weisse (Schneeeule for example) and Gose are still being brewed quite a lot in Germany. Yeah, I know, I have a strong opinion for usage of the name Berliner Weisse and Gose by breweries like Omnipollo. Even though I'm swedish. 🤔😁😁😁
brad is an old gueuze
Love the explanation, sounds awful to someone who's not a fan of sours though haha.
Haha super aware of this so tried to use tasty language...its hard for such a unique style though
@@TheCraftBeerChannel I'd love to try some someday. Preferably in a cave in continental Europe haha! Keep up the great content boys!
Would you kindly specify the assemblage of the AG?
I'm afraid I don't actually know the blend ratios (I think it might change a little each year) but the point of the beer is that it is made purely with wort brewed by 3 Fonteinen themselves.
@@TheCraftBeerChannelThey would be asking for the 'assemblage' number on the rear label.
Lambic is like wines, they change from year to year based on ingredients, climate, and environment
I thought I was tough until I tried lambic beer. I was wrong.
The J in pajottenland is pronounced as a y.
seen that 3 before 😏
I only enjoy sour beer with fruit eg, cherries. You either love the non fruity sours or hate them....
Just like bitterness it can take some time to develop a taste for lambic, but it will come! Fruit is a great way in.
Door County Wisconsin is full of cherry orchards. Wisconsin is full of German and Belgian immigrant populations. Third or fourth genera now. But I recently had my first cherry lambic. Did not like at first but after three beers I loved the contrast to my usual belgian ales I make.
13:35
So lambic is like the tepache of the beer world?
I can't get into Lambic or any beers of that genre, I even had Cantillon Lambic in Brussels and didn't enjoy it, I'm missing out.
I'd give some of the Lindemans fruited ones a go - much sweeter and with lots of fruit flavour. Or Boon's Kriek is very approachable too. It might be a way in!
maybe try faro style , its geuze with some sugar .the reason that the original lambic and geuze glasses are so thick is to be able to crush candy sugar in it without breaking to make it more appealing to women and children
@@blackarmored just to be clear, faro is not exactly based on geuze, there's no 3-2-1 year process involed
@@Dlabanec64 no you are right its a lambic but it works just fine on geuze as well
Lindeman's is a great suggestion. Their Peche has become our New Year's Eve replacement for champagne. It has some of the same vibe but is just tastier
Boon!
That is all :)
I’m always confused on the best way to store my krieks and lambics
As in vertical or horizontal?
@@TheCraftBeerChannel I store vertical due to sediment I was talking more about cellaring them or leaving them in the fridge .. I tend to leave them in the fridge all the time but then I see people cellaring them 🤷🏻♂️ What is the best temp to serve?
That's a hornet's nest of a question.
Belgians make beer.
The rest of the world I don’t know what the fuck they are doing.
I thought I knew beer… until I went to Belgium.
Thank Gambrinus!.
Isn't Gambrinus from Czechia?
From Low Brau to the Highest possible Brau in just one week 😂
Glad you clocked that! We are enjoying the flex.
Hang on, is it pronounced Bone not Boon (as in Mills and)?!
Yup. Still confused the hell outta me but apparently so.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel well that's going to take some getting used to
It is pronounced bone. And oude is pronounced with an ow sound (as in how), not uh. And pajotten as paah-yotten :)
Nothing comes close to authentic lambic from the Pajottenland. All those American wild ales pale in comparison - Allagash, De Garde, Jester King etc... can jog on.
"What even is lambic?" It's the best thing in the world. On a more scientific note, lambic is not sour it's just a complete and utter lack of sweetness than in todays sweeter world tastes sour. Then again we are at this point only talking about un-sweetened lambic at this point.
I mean it does have a lower pH than your average beer so there is definitely tartness, but it's rarely as extreme as the quick sours.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel try the sour cherry from 3 fontainen ;) ( has 400 kg of extremely sour cherry's from schaerbeek / 1000l . and good explanation of the difference between lambic and geuze's . and have you tried the collaboration beer between guinness and timmermans .
I don't think turbid mash is actually the thing that makes lambics funky. Brett can produce funk with even with little to no carbohydrates left. Homebrewers in Milk the Funk have tried to make brut-IPA like wort that has fermented in a couple of days and then pitched brett and the beer still got funky.
I would guess IPAs done with coolships don't get funky because after fermentation they are kept in a cooler where brett perhaps refuses to work. Does anyone know more?
Oh absolutely - any beer can get an infection, or be eaten up by brett and other microbes. But the longer chain sugars ensure this happens slowly and lets all the (around 80) different microbes have a slow effect. Otherwise things like acetobacter and lactobacillus would go to town before the brett really kicked off - which is where the pool party analogy came from. IPAs in coolships don't go funky because they are otherwise kept CRAZY clean, and cold, and are hugely hopped too which offers a lot of protection.
Asked for a cantillion for my birthday to see if I could ever get into sour beers, while I appreciated the complexity of the beer I wish I traded it for a treehouse NEIPA with someone from america.
First up I'd say Cantillon are not the brewery I'd recommend when trying to get into lambic. I'd try Lindemans or Boon, which are more approachable.
Second pllllllllease don't trade rare lambic for NEIPA. One is unique to a certain part of the world and made in tiny quantities over several years before being carefully shared out throughout different countries. The other can be made anywhere in a matter of weeks and is best drunk where it's made as fresh as possible! if you don't like it, sell it/trade it to someone local who does!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Trying to work out if this post is a pisstake or not 😂
You say "pajotteland" the "j" like you would say they "y" in "say".
This weird norge amalgamantion, no, please no. ;-)
or 'yew' tree