Lambic Beer – Introduction to Belgian Lambic Beer and Brewers

From the first time I tried a sour beer, I was hooked on this unique style. Little did I know at the time that there are a number of different styles of Belgian sour beers. The first beer I tried was a Flanders Red Ale, but there are a number of other styles of sour beers as well. These include American Wild Ale, Berliner Weiss,  Gose, Oud Bruin, and perhaps the most popular style of sour beer today, Lambic.

What is Lambic Beer?

Lambic is a spontaneously fermented beer style that originated in the Pajottenland and Zenne Valley areas of Belgium, just outside of Brussels. These beers go through a very strict process to produce, including having the wort cool overnight in a koelschip, a large open container, exposed to the microculture of the brewery, allowing the natural yeasts to interact with the beer before barreling.

Plain lambic is uncarbonated and offers a smooth sour flavor imparted with the toast of the barrels the lambic aged in. Most lambics are allowed to age in the barrel for anywhere from a few months to four years before being blended into a Gueuze, (also spelled geuze) or undergoing a secondary fermentation with fruit to produce one the different styles of fruit lambics, such as Kriek (cherries) or Framboise (raspberries). Other common fruits found blended in lambic beers include peaches, apricots, grapes, currants, blackberries, blueberries, and even rhubarb!

A normal bottle of Gueuze, Kriek, or other fruit lambics you find on supermarket shelves will have sugar added to temper the sourness of the beer and make it more approachable to the everyday drinker. A beer labeled as an Oude Gueuze or Oude Kriek will generally be more sour, without much of the added sweetness.

Who Produces Lambic Beers?

Brewing lambic beer is not an easy process that just every brewer can master. In order to ensure the beer is able to properly cool and be infused with the yeasts needed to trigger the spontaneous fermentation, most lambic beers are brewed only during the winter months. The remainder of the year is often then used managing the cellar of the aging lambic barrels, as well as blending Gueuze or fruit lambics.

Traditional lambic beer producers today include:

• 3 Fonteinen, Beersel
• Boon, Lembeek
• Cantillon, Brussels
• De Troch, Wambeek
• Girardin, Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle
• Lindemans Brewery, Vlezenbeek
• Mort Subite, Kobbegem
• Oud Beersel, Beersel
• Timmermans, Itterbeek
• Van Honsebrouck, Ingelmunster

Some of these breweries, such as De Troch, Lindemans, Timmermans, and Van Honsebrouch, generally produce only sweetened fruit lambic beers for the market. However, their base lambic is often used in more traditional Gueuze or other lambic blends.

Belgian Gueuze Blenders

Blending lambic into a Geuze or a traditional fruit lambic is an art in itself. Many of the most sought after lambic beers found today are not produced by a lambic brewer, but by a Gueuze blender. These artisans procure the freshly brewed lambic from a number of the lambic brewers mentioned above and age them on their own barrels. They then produce their own Gueuze blends from different ages of lambic beers from different producers, and fruit lambics with their own, often locally grown fruits.

Some popular Gueuze blenders include:

• Antidoot
• De Cam
• Hanssenns Artisanaal
• Lambiek Fabriek
• Methode Goat (formerly Bokkereyder)
• Tilquin

HORAL and Toer de Geuze

In Belgium, the tradition of lambic beers has been seen as being under attack, as such, societies such as HORAL, the High Council for artisanal lambic beers, have been formed to help promote the tradition of lambic brewing and blending, and identify those who misuse the name of lambic, gueuze, etc. without following these traditions.

Every two years, HORAL also promotes the Toer de Geuze, where the public can visit the majority of the breweries and blenders in the Pajottenland and the Zenne Valley. The Toer de Geuze takes place during the first week of May, and you can visit breweries, blenders, and the Lambic Information Center in Beersel. Self-visits are possible, or you can join one of a multitude of bus tours that visit a selection of the breweries and blenders. This year’s Toer de Geuze 2024 takes place on May 4 and 5, 2024.

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