As my week comes to a close (and jeez what a long freakin' week - it has actually lasted 12 straight days so far), I opened a Kriek Lambic, for the first time, to sip while finishing a last couple pages of charts for a FedEx package to be sent tonight or tomorrow morning.
What a strange taste sensation!
From the Lambic wiki:
Lambic is style of beer brewed in the vicinity of Brussels, Belgium known as Payottenland, and within the city of Brussels....Unlike conventional ales and lagers, which are brewed using carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, Lambic beer is brewed with wild yeasts which are native to the Senne valley, where Brussels is located. These wild yeasts, some eighty-six microorganisms in all, give the beer its distinctive flavor: dry and cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste.
Lambic is brewed from approximately 70% barley malt and 30% unmalted wheat. When the wort has cooled, it is exposed to the open air and spontaneous fermentation takes place. This is only done between October and May; in the summer months, there are too many unfavorable bacteria in the air. Aged dried hops is used, so the hop taste is not very strong.
This particular lambic (Lindemans) is aged in oak, then black cherries are added, which makes the beverage seem more like some sort of soda than a beer. Quite interesting.
From the website of the importer:
Lambic, or spontaneously fermented beers, are among the world’s rarest. Produced more like a methode champenoise champagne, than a typical beer, these products mature in oak for nearly two years prior to release.
...All Lindemans beers are vegan products...Artisanal lambic breweries, such as Lindemans Farm Brewery, make their fruit beers by blending the lambic and fresh fruit before bottling producing Kriek (cherry), Framboise (raspberry), and Pêche (peach). When the brewery makes Kriek, whole fresh cherries are added to the casks, triggering a third fermentation and promoting a spritzy carbonation that gives the finished beer a champagne-like character.
and from some online beer merchant:
Lindemans Kriek Cherry Lambic Beer
“Lustrous garnet. Ripe sour cherry nose. A vibrant entry leads to a medium-bodied palate with a wonderful balance of fruity sweetness and subdued dry lambic character. Finishes with a touch of bitter cherry skin flavor.
Now after my second glass,I've decided it might be too sweet for everyday drinking. Still would drink it again: as a desert beer perhaps? Really doesn't taste much like beer at all.
I first had this in Belgium, just off the Grand Platz, with a plate of mussels and a couple pounds of fries. It goes well with heavy food and mayonnaise--but is definitely more like a fruit soda than a beer. Reminded me a bit of the German drink called a ratler--fizzy lemon soda mixed with a lager.