Oud Beersel Oud Geuze

Lambic is a kind of belgian beer made in a style with which most people are likely to be unfamiliar. Sour and tart on the palate, and often with funky, even bready, flavours, lambics can be an acquired taste for beer drinkers. However, these days sour beers inspired by the traditional Belgian lambics are becoming all the rage in the US microbrewing scene and have precipitated a wave of impressive beers from the likes of Russian River, Lost Abbey, etc.

However, even with all the excellent sours being made in the US, it is nice to go back to the source and try a traditional blended unflavoured geuze lambic (made from aged and young lambic and no added fruit). Further, given BC's severe lack of microbrews and interesting beers, it is nice to see a properly made (i.e. sour) gueze lambic on the shelves in the province.

This particular lambic had a nose with bread, funk, green apple, dry lager yeast, lemon and spice. The palate is sour, but also balanced with funky earth, must, bread and a ton of yeast flavours (kind of like rising bread smell). While not for all, this is a beer that anyone with an adventurous palate should taste and it is certainly an excellent authentic version of the Belgian lambic. And, as an added bonus, it pairs brilliantly with stilton cheese.

Excellent
$9/375ml at Viti or Brewery Creek

Lindemans Cuvee Rene Gueuze Lambic

Gueuze lambic is a sour beer blended from aged and young lambic. Many people's familiarty with lambic will be with sweet fruity concoctions that taste nothing like beer. This particular lambic, as with any self-respecting lambic, is sour and a litte bretty. Here we had quite a yeasty complexion and a woody odour. However, disappointingly the malts used must have been cheap or crappy quality because this has an aftertaste similar to a commercial lager. Despite having layers of wood, earth and forest floor, the finish is frankly very unflattering. While certainly overall much better than a commercial beer, I have been fortunate to have many much better lambics.

Good+

$10/750ml at Whole Foods