A spritz can be an uninspired, sweet, concoction, but in the right hands a good mixologist can craft a refreshing and complex drink, given the
You open a Burgundy Premier Cru expecting a light-on-its-feet, delicate, Pinot Noir. Instead, your wine is an over-extracted, oaked abomination instead. What is a person
I have always been partial to Cantillon’s Grand Cru Bruocsella, an unblended 3-year old lambic. Perusing the bottle list at Moeder Lambic Fontaines on an
It is hard to to think of a better name for a natural winery than “Field Recordings” as it conjures images of both 20th century
The first time I encountered the unique wines of the Jura region was when reading Jean-Xavier Guinard’s “Lambic” book for review on this website. Naturally,
Visit to the Orval Abbey, old Orval Abbey ruins, and the brewing museum. The last photo shows the original 1932 Orval glass before it changed
After missing two installments of Toer de Geuze I was excited to attend this year’s event. To say that a lot has changed since I
Like many other lambic connoisseurs, my first acquaintance with lambic was through a fruit lambic of dubious merit (retrospectively). But it was Monk’s Cafe’s Flemish’s
As I have increasingly become a predominantly wine drinker, I find co-fermenting grapes with a beer, or even blending wine with a sour to be
The title of this post is somewhat tongue-in-cheek because if the growing interest of wine drinkers and restaurants in white skin-contact wines is any indication,
Lindemans is not the kind of brewer that I had expected to review any time soon on this website. Despite its respectable history as a
It all started with Radikon. That would be tempting to say. But truthfully, while it was quite likely that Radikon constituted my first experience with
While American craft brewers release wild ales and beers fermented with “brett” around the clock nowadays, brewers who utilize spontaneous fermentation are still a lot
Toer de Geuze, a Belgian beer tour celebrating the regional gueuze beer style, is held in Flanders every two years. This year’s tour was held
For a long time I have wanted to write a blog post on the (possible) health benefits of lambic beer. I am not sure if
One of the most curious publications in the history of lambic beer, and I suspect, the history of beer, is Hubert van Herreweghen’s ‘Geuze en
The recent Lost Abbey and New Belgium Lips of Faith Brett Beer has produced a number of interesting exchanges on internet forums and beer rating
Although the theme of this website does permit it, I have never published on German sour styles such as Berliner Weisse. But a recent visit
One of the pleasant surprises for those who utilized the HORAL buses during the 2011 edition of Toer de Geuze is that the organizers distributed
One of the most interesting developments in the Pacific Northwest has been the increasing popularity of gin barrel aging of beer. In particular, gin barrel
Cantillon is my favorite brewery in the world, but I have a weak spot for gueuze blender Hanssens Artisinaal from Dworp, Belgium. Everything about Hannsens
Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff’s Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation is a thorough review of the subject of yeast, with the practical (home)brewer
Jamie Goode and Sam Harrop’s Authentic Wine: Toward Natural and Sustainable Winemaking is the most extensive (technical) review of natural wine making to date. The
There has been a recent spike in books about organic and real wine making. I was intrigued to read about Katherine Cole’s Voodoo Vintners: Oregon’s
One of the intriguing aspects of reading historical works on the history of brewing and lambic is to discover many obscure details about spontaneously fermented
Sometimes legitimate concerns about modern techniques and manipulation of beer and wine leave the impression that in the good old days people routinely drank and
Cantillon officialy announced their annual experimental Zwanze beer and a change in their distribution of this beer. Zwanze 2011 will no longer be released in
A number of factors led me to read Alice Fiering’s The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization, a
The renewed interest in traditional lambic beer is gradually translating itself into an increase of locations in Brussels where artisanal geuze and kriek can be
In 1996, Jos Cels, author of Het Mysterie van de Geuze (1992), published a 128 page tourism guide to the Pajottenland and the area between
For the second time in a row I attended the biennial Toer de Geuze event in Belgium. During one day, all lambic brewers and geuze
Chad Yakobson has done the world of homebrewing and microbrewing a great favor by making the results of his academic investigations with brettanomyces yeast available
One of the reasons for starting this blog was that, as a native Dutch speaker, I would be able to review and consult (historical) Dutch
Just published is the second edition of LambicLand, a labor of love and extremely useful guide to the world of lambic. The new (English only)
This photo was taken during the 2009 Toer de Geuze at the geuze blender Hanssens Artisanaal in Dworp, Belgium. The large barrel is a so
While in France in April 2009, Chana and I visited La Franche, which is a tiny little beer brewery (!) in a tiny little village
After raving about Cantillon Zwanze 2009, I am pleased to learn that Cantillon has decided to brew this elderflower lambic again as a regular offering
Not even a month passed since I lamented the absence of good sour beers in Oregon when the 3rd anniversary of Bailey’s Taproom featured Block
Two of the most anticipated events at Cantillon are its open public brewing session and Quintessence. At Quintessence, Cantillon’s year round beers and limited releases
Since 2008 traditional lambic brewery Cantillon has been producing lambics with unusual ingredients and releasing them under the name “Zwanze.” The word zwanze comes from
It is hard to overlook the distinctive black bottles of Radikon on the shelves. But for someone used to craft beer prices, spending more than
Jeff Sparrow’s Wild Brews: Beer Beyond the Influence of Brewer’s Yeast is a major contribution to the literature on lambic beer. In this book the
The September 2009 issue of Imbibe Magazine features an interesting article about the growing interest in oxidized wines. Co-owner of New York City restaurant L’Artusi
Cantillon is among the most traditional of lambic breweries but that has not deterred this family-owned brewery from offering a wide range of different beers.
The Belgian beer blog Hier Stroomt het Bier! has an extensive photo report on the birth of a new Gueuze blender from Bierghes in the
Is this possible to make a lambic in the United States? This depends on the definition of what constitutes a lambic (brewing process or location)
On Saturday May 16th 3 Fonteinen’s Armand Debelder entered his storage place in Halle, Belgium and found that a failure of the thermostat had allowed