Serve in a stemmed glass at 5-8 °C
What it tastes like
Lambic comes from the Senne valley around Brussels, the Pajottenland. The wort is left overnight in a wide, shallow cool ship so wild yeast and bacteria from the air can settle in, then it ferments and ages in old oak barrels for months or years. Fruit lambic is that beer with whole fruit added during ageing: sour cherries for kriek, raspberries for framboise, and less often peach, blackcurrant or grape.
The fruit ferments out, so a traditional fruit lambic is tart and dry, not sweet. Expect the real taste of the fruit, cherry stone and almond in a kriek, bright berry in a framboise, over a sour, funky base with hay, leather and a little oak. Aged hops are used for their preservative effect, so bitterness is almost nil. Some commercial versions are sweetened after filtering, which makes them fruitier and softer but less complex.
The best of these taste like the fruit grew in the beer.
Style profile
- Look
- The colour of the fruit: deep red for cherry, pink to ruby for raspberry. Hazy to clear. Head often tinted, fizzy and fairly short-lived.
- Aroma and flavour
- Real fruit over a sour, funky lambic base. Cherry stone and almond in kriek, bright berry in framboise. Hay, leather, light oak. No noticeable hop. Sweetened versions are softer and juicier.
- Mouthfeel
- Light body, high, prickly carbonation. Tart and very dry in traditional versions, rounder when sweetened. A clean, mouth-watering finish.
- Ingredients
- Pilsner malt and unmalted wheat, aged hops. Spontaneous fermentation with wild yeast and bacteria. Months to years in oak, then whole fruit such as sour cherries or raspberries.
In India
True lambic is tied to the Brussels region and its wild microbes, so it is an import story in India: a few Belgian krieks and framboises reach premium stores in the metros, at a price. Sweetened versions travel well and are an easy introduction. Traditional ones are fragile, so store them cold, upright and out of light. A few Indian brewers make fruited sours with kokum or raw mango in the same spirit, but those are a different beer. Pour one on a hot May afternoon.
At the Indian table
Food pairings contributed by Anuradha Rao
- Raj kachori with tamarind chutneySweet-sour chutney meets sour-fruity beer, and the bubbles scrub the curd and fried shell.
- Amritsari fish fryThe tart beer cuts batter and ajwain like a squeeze of lemon, and the fruit softens the chilli.
- Fresh goat cheese with kokum or karonda preserveFresh tangy cheese loves a fruit-forward sour, and the tart preserve echoes the fruit in the glass.
- RasmalaiCardamom milk and soft chhena pair with kriek's almond and cherry notes, and the acidity cuts the cream.
Brewed in India
True lambic is only made around Brussels, so there is no Indian fruit lambic. Look for imported krieks and framboises, or try an Indian brewpub's fruited sour for a cousin.
Want the long read? Lambic and gueuze