Two roads "Lambic" series

There's a huge difference between Belgian lambic ales which are exclusively spontaneously fermented and American wild ales which may or may not be spontaneously fermented and/or may be a mix of the two.

RR always used open, spontaneous fermentation to brew Beatification even if they didn't have a dedicated "coolship" persay.

Also, despite producing an American beer that's one of the closest to resembling a traditional Belgian lambic, they never tried to cash in on the Belgian terminology.

The use of it by Two Roads, particularly the term gueuze, is galling since the vast majority of people who are interested in sour ales these days know very little of the distinctions and subtleties in terminology.

 

I don't want to get into a semantics argument, but there's a difference between opening the windows of the brewery overnight to let all the bugs (etc) in and pitching commercial strains of brett, lacto, pedio. I don't think it's the same end at all.

My point was just that all that aside, if they are going to make a "gueuze inspired" beer then at the very least I would hope it's a blend 1, 2 and 3 year old "lambic". If not, then that's quite a stretch.

 

Wish I could get down there for the release. ISO of the kriek and guezue if anyone is going that has a way of getting an extra.

 

Overall I consider Two Roads my favorite CT brewery. They dont have any individual beers that can compare with Gandhi Bot or the like, but every other aspect of Two Roads is beyond the rest of the CT competition.
Last Two Roads beer release that I went to(henrys farm, urban funk, sour pucker) was definitely worth it and I am making sure to show up early tomorrow. Sour beers are a top style for me and the two they had in that release were excellent.
I think that Two Roads is doing a good job of trying to bring CT into the craft beer scene. They hold lots of events and contract brew for notable other breweries and they are really making a push to go beyond just being a local small brewery that no one out of state has ever heard of.

 

Fine. They are bringing awareness to the CT beer scene. Great. And they are helping other brewers brew excellent beers.

Still, the majority of their beers are NOT excellent.

People here and other places always say "I don't get the hate." It's not hate. SHUT UP! They are doing a fantastic job of brewing beer in Connecticut! But...and I know they will read this, take it FWIW: the majority of their beers are not consistently excellent. They are not bad. But, also, not excellent. Most of the people in Connecticut I know expected excellent beers from Phil. It's just not happening. A couple are excellent, some are very good, and some are not good.

And really, let's be honest. To become a major regional brewery (their goal), the beers have to appeal to wide range of people; geeks, nerds, new craft beer enthusiasts, casual beer drinkers, etc. They will and are having much success.

Please, everyone, stop saying "I don't get the hate". For the majority of people, it's not hate. It's just that beautiful building combined with their excellent marketing not equating to world class beers.

 

They don't have beer as good as Beer'd either.

 

do they allow bottle shares in the parking lot?

 

Honestly, I would have preferred that. Hell, I would have preferred them spelling gueuze phonetically (e.g. duck duck gooze), but flat out calling their beer gueuze seems to be a complete disregard for tradition. To my understanding, a gueuze is a blend of young and old lambic, and lambic should be spontaneously fermented. This does not even begin to touch on the regional designation which is a bit less important to me, but I feel should still be respected. Although I don't know the specifics of how this beer was made, it seems misleading and disingenuous calling it gueuze. With all this said, I would not be surprised if both the two roads "gueuze" and "kriek" are pretty damn good beers and will be interested in trying them. I find Two Roads' lineup to be mediocre at best but I did enjoy Urban Funk.

 

Tried the Kriek style beer at the dinner. Amazing. Gueuze style beer was also very good, and Philsamic was super interesting. If I wasn't busy this morning I would definitely go. Here are some videos about the beers

 

"It's a long process to do it the traditional way, which is the way we do it."
Riiiiight

 

Lou Pepe Gueuze is not a blend. it is 2 year old lambic.

I think people are getting very hung up on some strict definitions and not respecting that even the very traditional makers play around with "the rules".

 

True, however Cantillon comes out and says that Lou Pepe deviates from the tradition of blending lambic. I also see a difference in Cantillon using a traditional term loosely compared with Two Roads doing so.

 

I can't tell if this is an attempt at trolling or a real post.

I would love to know what you mean by the portion I highlighted. Examples would be great.

 

I guess but I think you can see how this becomes a gray area or at least a slippery slope. if Cantillon can use a traditional term loosely (or with caveats) then it's hard for me to see the outrage justified for someone else doing it. I'm sure if you asked the brewery how this beer differs from 100% bio gueze he would tell you in straight terms.

 

St. Gilloise too. These are exceptions though.

The Kriek and gueuze are both fantastic by the way. The gueuze especially. Nicely done two roads!

 

quoting myself! this very site is also inconsistent, as it lists beers like LP Gueze and St. Gilloise under "gueuze" even though "lambic-unblended" is a category.

 

You got to love the irony of people fucking whining about tradition and strict adherence to brewing guidelines in America of all places. An entire country who's recent brewing history is entirely based on saying a big ol' "fuck you" to the rules and standards.

 

Cantillon calls them gueuze right on the label. Also I believe all lambic is a blend of different barrels of the same beer. So I dotnt really get the unblended lambic category, unless there are single barrel batches or something like that.

 

typically I think "blend" refers to the age of the barrels. 1, 2, 3 year old etc.

 

I think two roads needs not charge $11.95 a 6 pack when I can get pretty much everything else for $9.99. I was going to buy a 12 pack of lil' heaven cans this summer for $17.95, then right next to it I saw Founders all day IPA 15 pack for 14.99. No brainer on the Founders.