Can someone explain Lambic beers to me?

Try some other sours that are not Flanders Red as those have a distinct vinegar taste althouhg I enjoy it.

 

Gueuze is certainly an extreme example of a sour beer. As others have mentioned, Berliner weisse is a good place to start. Gose is another style that has converted many. If you want to keep exploring gueuze, I'd suggest trying Mariage Parfait, which is much less acidic.

 

Cantillon's Lambics aren't the most Balance Lambics. I dig some but most are just too Dry/Sour for my tastes. I say search out more Lambics before you throw them out.

 

I have noticed some variation in the Classic. One bottle will be enamel stripping sour, the next one will be somewhat sour, but will have more funk than blue cheese. It's a toss up to which you'll get.

Also, for what it's worth, Cantillon is amazing, but I prefer 3F for Gueuze. Just me. YMMV.

 

you need to try some stuff from rare barrel or cascade and you will be sold

 

OP, you have access to gueuze. The gueuze flavor is by far my favorite in beer. Best of luck on your lambic journey.

 

Yeah, forget about that Cantillon garbage and get your hands on some nice lacto juice.

 

Best way to do it? Buy one and try it. Do some research and start on the smaller side, buy a single bottle which is in your target $$ range and give it a legit tasting chance. Follow the serving directions and recommendations and from there.....hopefully you ENJOY.

 

After just finishing a bottle of 07' boon marriage parfait I have to say horse blanket, urine, hay, and barn yard are my favorite flavors in beer (as long as its supposed to be sour).

If you truly want to taste licking a battery, find an infected bottle of Peruvian morning from central waters. Someone on the Midwest forums will probably hook you up for free. Compare that to your lambic experience and report back.

As for American wild ales, in general they're sour but not complex (with a few exceptions). Sour is an easy flavor to achieve. Complexity behind it usually comes from old wood tanks and wild yeast strains. Drink 20 more and decide if you like them.

That said, Jolly Pumpkin's La Roja (an AWA) is one of my favorite beers.

 

I'm certain that some folks have more tolerance for pucker and sour. It is an acquired taste for most, and a little goes a long way. I'll split a bottle with my son and enjoy them, but I hardly consider these brews to be "drinking" beers. The Rose de Gambrinus, if savored, is delicious, consumed slowly and with thought. The straight Gueuze is more difficult to warm up to, but once you've had some experience, the thought of one will make your mouth water. 10 years ago, when I sold these beers, I could hardly give them away!

 

I almost always pair gueuze with good cheese, the acidity and fat (and funk of both) make for a great drinking/snacking experience. I'm with you on sessioning them, though. Only at the brasserie.

 

this makes sense I don't like yogurt or sours

 

In your opinion, is the change over the past 10 years on the popularity of these beers just a reflection of the overall passion for extreme beers? In other words, for contemporary craft beer drinkers: the bigger the better phenomenon?

Cheers!

 

I would say that the search for the more exotic makes the mainstream continue to evolve. Oddly (not really), it seems that the more obtuse a beer is the more that it is sought by beer folks on a gradual continuum of awareness, changing the nature of beer production. I would never have thought that lambics and "goses" would ever catch the eye and imagination of even a small lot of beer fanatics.

 

Well stated.

 

I still think one can be a quite the experienced and adventurous beer drinker and maintain even a dislike for this style.

It's ok not to be a big fan but appreciate the effort.

 

FWIW I am a fan of fruited lambic beers since the addition of the fruit seems to ‘mitigate’ the sourness aspect. I have yet to acquire a taste for non-fruited lambic (Gueuze) yet. I still try a Gueuze from time to time but my reaction has been consistently that those beers are too far on the sour spectrum for my palate. Maybe in another 10 years I amy have a differing opinion?

Cheers!

P.S. I do like the Brett flavors of barnyard, horse blanket, funk though. I have homebrewed with Brett a number of times.

 

you're probably missing the point.

i would guess you just need to ease into the flavors a bit. do you like yogurt? do you like the oak flavor in barrel aged stouts or particularly oaky wines? those are good entry points to lambic.

[edit: other good entry points are lindemans cuvee renee, and many american wild ales which are more immediately palatable; for example cascade's apricot and those beers, or lost abbey red poppy. the cascade beers are way more approachable than cantillon, and honestly after drinking thousands of beers i still prefer a good bottle of cascade to cantillon anyway, call me crazy]

i mean, missing the point is no big deal. the sophistication involved isn't a matter of being a "better" or "worse" drinker, it's a matter of establishing a reference point so you can enjoy what you're experiencing.

cantillon is super acidic and sour, and the water is usually really minerally tasting. they get all sorts of ridiculous flavors from the yeast and bacteria, but they may not be enjoyable if other things are overwhelming your palate.

so too with IPAs. everyone by now is pretty convinced of the truth that hop oils have all sorts of different flavors, most of them pretty widely agreed to be pleasant (citrus flavors, earthy/herbal flavors, piny flavors, tropical fruit flavors, flowery flavors, etc). however, if you're not prepared for the bitterness of IPAs, all that stuff might be totally invisible to you.

for me, it took a sweeter IPA like 90minute to sort of get accustomed to that bitterness and get familiar with "what to look for" with the flavors around the bitterness.

it's all about trying things and getting accustomed to this or that. reading reviews that mention "notes of blablabla" and "i taste blablaba" can be ENORMOUSLY helpful, because it can orient you in terms of stuff that's familiar. a lot of times, the person saying "i taste grapefruit" doesn't really taste the fullness of grapefruit, but some elements of it, and that's the best they can do to express what they're tasting. you read "grapefruit", look for it, and then start to notice a bit of what they tasted, and that gets you onto the not-quite-grapefruit stuff that the reviewer was tasting. now you have a better reference point.

 

Well damn, you forgot cat pee!

 

LOL!

I am fortunate in that my palate 'registers' 4MMP as tropical fruits vs. cat pee.

Cheers!