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 Framboise
Delicious seasonal beer based on Lambic, with 30% pure raspberry juice.
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 ...
Horal Oude Gueuze Megablend 2021
It is a blend of young and old lambics, contributed by all HORAL members: Boon, De Cam ...
Temporarily out of stock
Cantillon Gueuze-Lambic Bio *
This is the result of a complex mixture of these lambics of different ages and tastes ...
Temporarily out of stock
Boon Framboise
Made only with real raspberries (250 g / liter) and some sourcherries (50g/liter). Completely ...
Boon Oude Gueuze Black Label Edition N°4
Oude Geuze Boon Black Label Edition N°4 is a blend of one, two and three year old, oak ...
Temporarily out of stock
Timmermans Lambic & Stout
Collaboration beer between a Guinness Stout and a Kriekenlambic from Timmermans
Temporarily out of stock
Boon Mariage Parfait Kriek
This is the classic Oude Kriek Mariage Parfait by Boon. Made with sourcherries, mascerated ...
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 ...
Boon Oude Kriek
This is the classic Oude Kriek by Boon. Made with sourcherries, mascerated with young ...
Overworks Hybrid Henchman
Wild fermented sour ale fermented with Sangiovese grapes and natural yeast.
Sainte Cru Ni Dieu Ni Maitre
An intense beer with a wonderful combination of acidity and fruitiness, all without bitterness ...
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.
Maryensztadt Sourtime Pastry
Pastry Sour IPA with the addition of Polish blackberries and cherries.
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 ...
Ten Hands DayDream
Tropical mango meets classical Swedish forest berries; blackberries and raspberries
BFM Saint Bon Chien *
This mixed fermentation beer has toured the world with its clear tartness, matured for ...
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