Saturday, November 27, 2010

Lindeman's Kriek Lambic

Since I couldn't get any Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic this year, I thought I'd go with a well-known brewer of lambics, Lindeman's. To start off with, a lambic is a style of beer that relies on spontaneous fermentation:


Lambic is a very distinctive type of beer brewed only in the Pajottenland region of Belgium (southwest of Brussels) and in Brussels itself at theCantillon Brewery and museum. Lambic is now mainly consumed after refermentation, resulting in derived beers such as Geuze or Kriek.[1]
Unlike conventional ales and lagers, which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, lambic beer is instead produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Senne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste.

I find that the lambic style is a great substitute for wine or champagne. Lindeman's is highly carbonated, pours with a tall fluffy head and due to the infusion of black cherries (kriek means cherry in Flemish - or possibly Dutch). I drank it out of a tall glass exactly like the one pictured. Not for everyone, but perfect with turkey and stuffing. 

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