The Lambic brewers have been conditioning their complex sours on fruits for a very long time, using cherries (kriek) and raspberries (framboise) to accentuate the fruity esters created during the complex mixed fermentation process. In this episode, recorded remotely last summer during quarantine, Dan Reeve joins us for a closer look at these complex, elegant... Continue Reading →
Brewing Wild Ales in the Basement – A visit to Block 15 Brewing
Corvallis, Oregon is one of America’s quintessential college towns. It’s bounded by the Willamette River to the east and the highest peak in the Coastal Mountain range to the west. The Pacific Coast, the Cascade Mountains and Portland are all within two hours driving distance. It has the kind of natural beauty and geographic diversity... Continue Reading →
Adventures in Lambic Land
It’s a Friday afternoon in early April, two days into my Belgian beer holiday. As I write this I’m sitting in the modern tasting room of Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen, savoring a 2012 vintage bottle of oud geuze and a cheese board. Sunlight streams through the windows, it seems like the first completely sunny day in... Continue Reading →
Cranberry-Lambic Sauce
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and one of the staples of Thanksgiving dinner is cranberry sauce. Here is a recipe for cranberry sauce with a fantastic beer twist that is not only delicious, it's super easy to prepare. In my biased opinion it's the best cranberry sauce I've ever had, the flavor of the fruit lambic compliments... Continue Reading →
Sour Beers Part 1 – The Science and Art of Brewing Sours
Many foods and drinks are acquired tastes. Think back to the first time you tried coffee, gin, rhubarb, bleu cheese, single malt whisky, grapefruit, ... What did you think? Chances are you didn’t like it very much. Maybe you still don’t, but over time many people come to enjoy, even crave, one or more of... Continue Reading →
Beer Review – Marriage Parfait by Boon Brewery
Beer: Marriage Parfait Brewery: Boon Brewery (Belgium) Style: Geuze (8.0% ABV) Rating: 7.5 Price: $6.99 for a 13 oz bottle Notes: I’m working on a future piece on sour beers, which is a style that is less familiar to me than many others. So for the sake of research I decided I better update my knowledge... Continue Reading →