Wild yeasts. Farmyards. 3rd generation family business. Fruit. Passion... you're thinking about Cider and I'm talking about beer, Lambic Beer. They are specialist beers brewed in Belgium and as much a beer as every other you drink, except its older in style and tastes like none of them.
Before you get your knickers in a twist, my justification about talking about Lambic beers on a cider and photography blog are these:
1. If its in a bottle and you pour it into a glass, you can photograph it -just like cider. ('He's such a pro' I hear you thinking)
2. They have a unique similarity with real ciders, that link being the flavours they derive from using wild yeasts. In a Venn diagram between beer and cider flavour, Lambics would sit in or very near the middle.
For the most part, they don't actually taste like cider but, for a beer, you might say they have a cider like quality - there are some definite similarities on the palate. It can a difficult style to enjoy, the Gueze probably the most difficult, so if you're keen, start with a fruit lambic and go from there.
Before you get your knickers in a twist, my justification about talking about Lambic beers on a cider and photography blog are these:
1. If its in a bottle and you pour it into a glass, you can photograph it -just like cider. ('He's such a pro' I hear you thinking)
2. They have a unique similarity with real ciders, that link being the flavours they derive from using wild yeasts. In a Venn diagram between beer and cider flavour, Lambics would sit in or very near the middle.
For the most part, they don't actually taste like cider but, for a beer, you might say they have a cider like quality - there are some definite similarities on the palate. It can a difficult style to enjoy, the Gueze probably the most difficult, so if you're keen, start with a fruit lambic and go from there.
What makes it 'Lambic' is that at the end of the brewing process, when the weary brewer wants to cool the beer, he does the exact opposite to what the rest of the brewing world do. He allows it to cool naturally exposed to the open air (some even open a window and let the wind blow over the beer) exposing it to all the shite the air can carry. All that warm sugar gives any and all wild yeasts the chance to dive in and have a slow dance. Bacteria even crash the party. Different organisms all work at different rates, taking individual metabolic pathways mostly fermenting their way along until the sugar is gone or the process is stopped. The result concoction benefits from the skill, patience and passion of an experienced artisan to carefully blend and age the beer (or cider) to bring out its best. Its tangy, refreshing, and unlike any other beer style. The wild yeasts in cider come from the skins of unwashed fruit colonised on the orchard floor or from inside the core itself where they became trapped inside the flower after germination. There are also the native yeasts living the cider house, the barrels etc all of whom have a role to play.
When introducing (non fruit based) lambics, known as Gueze in Belgium, to someone who has never braved them I set them up as 'The Jazz of Beer'- often difficult to understand but beguiling nevertheless. You hear alot of people describe the aroma as 'horsehair', 'farmyard' and 'vomit' -and other such undelightful whiffs.
Fruit Lambic is the same but whole fruit is added to it at the conditioning stage to flavour the beer, the most popular being Cherry. You've probably tried some, they are delicious and can be alot sweeter. The Knickerbocker-Gloriousness of Lindemans Kriek is an easy place to start, even if it is the least cidery! As is Mort Subite.
I really love English Ale and drink it regularly, but Belgium beers are so different and so good too (the Lambic family is a prime example.) In an obscene generalisation I going to say they're more luxurious, at least to an Englishman. Try them. Try them all. If you're a cider drinker, your liver can take it. Trust me, you really really won't regret it.
Here are some photos.
