| For thousands of years, beer was fermented with yeasts living in the air. That was before science and genetic modification. Scientists separated, plated and isolated single beer yeast strains to maximize potential fermentation. Today’s beer is made with single-strain, hygienically created yeast. Fortunately, there is some hope for the "free range" yeasts in an anarchistic group based just outside of Brussels, in Payottenland. It’s fighting to keep lambics – beers that are brewed with wild yeasts – alive. These brewers are all about 100 per cent spontaneous fermentation.
The combination of young and old lambics (one beer a year old, the other two to three years old) is called gueuze. The gueuze is prepared by a blender who is trained to know which casks are superior, when to take the beer from the cask, in what proportions to get the perfect blend that has classically tart but not overly harsh flavour.
Of the eight different styles of lambics, we only get two in Calgary. However, we are very lucky to get one of the best gueuze products in the world, Boon Kriek. In Dutch, kriek means sour cherry, and the variety of cherries used in Boon’s lambic is a rare sour Belgian morello or Schaarbeekse cherry that is indigenous to the area. These cherries are added to young lambic and natural fruit sugars cause a refermentation in the cask, making for a delightfully sparkling and dry beer with next to no fruit character that has been likened to champagne.
Boon Kriek is sour, dry, tart and funky. The beer’s mosaic of flavours is most often associated with very high-priced wine or very dry champagne. It has an astonishing balance with a deep rosy hue and dense pink head in the glass and a nearly overwhelming aroma of fresh cherries. The noses of cherries are expected, but poke a little deeper for hints of wild rose.
Lambics are not as popular as they used to be, and many traditional lambic brewers have given up hope and started making sugary variations to satisfy the soda pop generation that has lost the taste for tart beers. Locally available Bellevue Kriek is a classic example, as most wonder if any real lambic was harmed in brewing this beer. Bellevue closed its only true lambic brewery last year. The beer is now lagered or aged in stainless steel and has probably never met wild yeast. Over the years, it has lost the sour salty edge it once had. Other modern compromises are happening at some so-called lambic breweries, such as using fruit extracts and syrups instead of real fruit. These breweries save money by adding top-fermented beer to small quantities of old lambics. Beware, as these fruit beers can be gimmicky and taste like a spoonful of jam and sugar. Taste the full range of sweet, salty and sour with Boon Kriek.
The other lambic style available in Calgary is Boon Framboise, fermented with raspberries instead of sour cherries. Although a slightly less traditional lambic, it is almost as good as the kriek. Boon Framboise is the only example of raspberry lambic that you can purchase in Calgary. |
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