The Original Barrel Aged, Wild Beer

The flavors and complexities of barrel aged and sour ales are enjoyed by many craft beer lovers, myself included. The trend of barrel aging and the use of wild yeast strains in fermentation has surged in popularity among craft brewers over the past couple decades. Many different styles of beer can be aged in oak barrels that previously held whiskey, rum or varieties of wine. Some brewers will also use this aging as a secondary fermentation process, inoculating the beer with a wild yeast such as Brettanomyces that imparts a sour or tart flavor to the finished product. While these types of brewing techniques seem quite innovative for American craft brewers, they actually originated more than 400 years ago.

Lambic beer is the original barrel aged beer fermented with wild yeast. This complex yet delicate beverage is brewed in the Senne River Valley region of Belgium, southwest of Brussels. It starts out with a grist of 70 percent malt and 30 percent unmalted wheat, which is cooked into a mash. Older, dry hops are boiled with the mash to create the wort, which then goes into shallow cooling pools in the upstairs of the brewery. The next process, fermentation, is a large part of what makes lambics unique. The brewhouse windows are opened to allow wild yeast and other microbes inside to inoculate the beer as it cools in the open pools. After a day of this open fermentation, the beer is placed in large barrels where the wild yeast turns sugars into alcohol. Several weeks later, the beer goes into smaller barrels and is aged for one to three years. Some lambic breweries infuse the beer with fruits like cherries (kriek), peaches (peche), raspberries (framboise), and apples (pomme) among others, during the aging process.

This historic and traditional brewing style is special for many reasons. The natural microbial flora in the air that's used for open fermentation is found only in this specific region. Lambic breweries make beer only from October to May because the colder months are when environmental conditions are optimal for open fermentation. Also, lambic beer recipes date back to 1559, making it very much an Old World beer. On our honeymoon in 2011, my wife Kris and I had the amazing experience of visiting Lindemans Brewery, one of the famous lambic breweries. We were able to see the brewery facilities, including the fermentation pools and massive aging barrels, first-hand. We also enjoyed a large variety of lambic beers that Lindemans brews, most of which were sweetened from fruit or fruit juice. It was a beer experience I'll remember forever, and worth seeking out for yourself if you make it to Belgium, the promised land of beer.