Sour beers
Have you ever heard of sour ales? This style, also known as spontaneous fermentation or lambic beers, is a true Belgian specialty with a highly particular production process. In fact, to brew a lambic beer, there is a special recipe. First of all, the wort must be made also of wheat and not only of barley malt. Aged, dry hop, which is less bitter, is added during cooking. However the main specificity of spontaneous fermentation beers is the following step. After cooking, the wort is left exposed to open air for several hours in shallow, flat metal pans placed under wooden roofs. This way, wild yeasts can inoculate the precious liquid, lending sour ales their distinctive taste. This process is generally only possible between October and May, as in the summer months it is too hot for it to work properly. The mixture is then poured into barrels for fermentation. This process may take a long time, even years. And this is how you make a lambic beer!
Lambic beers are rarely drunk pure, they are mostly the base for three main types of beer. The first one, probably the least popular, is the faro. The brewer adds candy sugar to the lambic, to make a sour yet rather sweet and round beer. Given its short shelf life, faro is rarely bottled. A classic of this style is the Lindemans Faro Lambic.
The second type is the gueuze, which is produced with a mix of young (6 to 12 months of fermentation) and old (up to 3 years) lambic beers. This triggers a second fermentation in the bottle. This kind is known for being the sourest of all, as well as the most traditional of spontaneous fermentation beers. The Oude Gueuze from Timmermans, several times award-winner, and the Gueuze Lambic Bio of the Cantillon brewery are two illustrious representatives of this category. Numerous other gueuzes are worth the detour as well!
Finally, fruity lambics. As suggested by the name, this type of beer is produced by mixing lambic and fruit, to obtain relatively sweet beets. The most used is cherry, to produce the kriek. A good representative is the Liefmans Kriek Brut. The same can be done with lots of other types of fruit, and the Lindemans brewery has made this its specialty (Pêcheresse, Framboise, Cassis, etc.).
Be as it may, sour ales never cease to amaze!
Our selection of sour beers, buy our beer online
Temporarily out of stock
Lindemans Cassis
Fruity beer based on Lambic and blackcurrant, a marriage balancing sweetness and acidity
Lindemans Faro Lambic
A new twist on an old Brussels Lambic beer from Breughel's era.
Lindemans Framboise
Delicious seasonal beer based on Lambic, with 30% pure raspberry juice.
Lindemans Gueuze
A filtered and slightly sweet variety of the Cuvée René Grand Cru.
Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René
Created by cutting 2/3 young with 1/3 old Lambic and in-bottle fermentation.
Lindemans Kriek
Made from unsweetened, freshly squeezed cherry juice, macerated in casks with Lambic ...
Lindemans Kriek Cuvée René
Made from unsweetened, freshly squeezed cherry juice, macerated in casks with Lambic ...
Lindemans Oude Gueuze Francisca *
Golden colour, well-balanced tart taste with nice dry finish.
Pecheresse
A 'sweet sinner', born from an affair between Lambic and Pure Peach Juice.
Horal Oude Gueuze Megablend 2021
It is a blend of young and old lambics, contributed by all HORAL members: Boon, De Cam ...
Horal Oude Gueuze Megablend 2022
The Megablend 2022 is a mixture of young and old lambic .
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Boon Mariage Parfait Kriek
This is the classic Oude Kriek Mariage Parfait by Boon. Made with sourcherries, mascerated ...
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Boon Oude Gueuze
Geuze Boon old style is a monument to taste with an alcohol content of 7%.
Boon Oude Gueuze VAT 31
An extra long maturation of four and a half years in the oak foeder N°31 created this ...
Temporarily out of stock
Timmermans Schaarbeek Kriek Griotteke
LAMBIC FRUIT WITH SCHAARBEEK CHERRIES (GRIOTTES). BRIGHT RED IN COLOR AND WITH A TART-SUGAR ...
Fluegge Fraenk
Fränk is fermented with lactic acid bacteria and stored on passion fruit puree
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Overworks Spontaneity 2
Aged in puncheons for 1 year and bottled unfiltered, an intensely complex beer.
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Sainte Cru Ni Dieu Ni Maitre
An intense beer with a wonderful combination of acidity and fruitiness, all without bitterness ...
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Maryensztadt Bonbon Mango Apricot Nectarine Vanilla
Pastry Sour Fruit Beer with mango, apricot, nectarine and vanilla
Maryensztadt SourBomb Pink Guava Rhubarb Lemon
Imperial Sour Fruit Beer with pink guava, rhubarb and lemon
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Maryensztadt Sourtime Mango Imperial IPA
La biere aigre, fruitee equilibree par une delicate amertume.
Maryensztadt Sour Bomb
Incredibly sour due to the addition of fruits: calamansi, lime and passion fruit.
Temporarily out of stock
Maryensztadt Sourtime Blackcurrant
Light beer in the style of sour, but with the addition of blackcurrant.
Dugges Mango Mango Mango
It might sound like an echo, but it’s not. This collaboration with Stillwater Artisanal ...
Dugges Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder is a joint effort with nomadic brewer Brian Strumke of Stillwater Artisanal ...
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Ten Hands DayDream
Tropical mango meets classical Swedish forest berries; blackberries and raspberries
Collective Arts Raspberry Dry Hop Sour
Refreshingly tart, fruit forward sour, made with a mountain of raspberries and Mosaic ...
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Varionica Passion Sour
This extremely refreshing beer is recognizable by salty,sour and passion fruit flavor
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BFM Saint Bon Chien *
This mixed fermentation beer has toured the world with its clear tartness, matured for ...
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Castrum Magnum Officina Della Birra *
In the cellars of the old brewery they refine some of our most exclusive recipes in oak ...
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