Stop calling it Lambic!

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Qhrumphf said:
But not every style has a "Protected Designation of Origin" or similar designation. Kolsch does. As does Lambic, Gueuze, and all the associated beers. I believe Berliner Weisse is on the list, but I'm not positive.
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True enough, but should I just get around the loop hole and call it Lambic "style", in the tradition of lambic, etc.? We're not commercial brewers so who really gives a damn!?! If you're not marketing it as something it's not then it doesn't matter. Personally as a brewer I name most of my beers by the style, some with tweaks based on special ingredients. The point being I'm sure the OP has brewed and named something based on a geographic style wrongly like the rest of us.

But to touch on the subject of BJCP, how else are we to get ours beers evaluated based on the already set criteria? If I called every beer I brewed that was sour or had Brett in it an American wild with no other descriptors then it would be hard to say what you were about to drink.

This is just a BS argument all around. You could spin it several ways on either side of the argument.
 
They play Boys of Summer on the radio during the summer. Then they play it during the winter to be ironic/remind people of summer. When isn't it a good time to play it?

Did the Red Baron like pizza? I kinda hope so, what with the entire brand and all.

If one of the major selling points for a pet was "it will take a **** inside your house" would you buy it? Then why do so many people own cats?

What is the meaning of life?

These are the questions that keep me up at night.
 
Qhrumphf said:
Well, we need to get rid of the entire "Kolsch" designation too, while we're at it. Even if it's slow cooled in a coolship, spontaneously fermented, 30% unmalted wheat, turbid mashed, aged hops, and barrel aged, if it's not from the right part of Belgium it's still not a Lambic.

In commercial terms, I agree with you entirely. The same way I don't think commercial brewers outside of Cologne should be able to market their beer as Kolsch. I don't know if I've seen an American "Lambic" but I know I've seen plenty of American "Kolsch" brews.

But as far as homebrew, that's the beer I'm going for, and that's what I'll call it.
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Not according to Jean Van Roy - he doesn't consider it geographically limited, but rather a matter of process. Which was my original point, albeit poorly stated. A beer that doesn't follow the process isn't lambic anymore than a cream ale is a pilsner. Similar? Sure. Same? Absolutley not.

And don't get me started on Kolsch!
 
Rob_B said:
True enough, but should I just get around the loop hole and call it Lambic "style", in the tradition of lambic, etc.? We're not commercial brewers so who really gives a damn!?! If you're not marketing it as something it's not then it doesn't matter. Personally as a brewer I name most of my beers by the style, some with tweaks based on special ingredients. The point being I'm sure the OP has brewed and named something based on a geographic style wrongly like the rest of us.

But to touch on the subject of BJCP, how else are we to get ours beers evaluated based on the already set criteria? If I called every beer I brewed that was sour or had Brett in it an American wild with no other descriptors then it would be hard to say what you were about to drink.

This is just a BS argument all around. You could spin it several ways on either side of the argument.
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I've said the exact same thing already. I don't care what homebrewers do or don't all what they brew. Someone can call their RIS a German Pils for all I care. As long as it's not being sold as such.

TNGabe said:
Not according to Jean Van Roy - he doesn't consider it geographically limited, but rather a matter of process. Which was my original point, albeit poorly stated. A beer that doesn't follow the process isn't lambic anymore than a cream ale is a pilsner. Similar? Sure. Same? Absolutley not.

And don't get me started on Kolsch!
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And apparently he's right. Lambic has a TSG designation, not a PDO designation. I had always understood that the geographical limitation was in there, but apparently I was incorrect. It's all process and the resulting character. Looks like the geographical limitation is more tradition than actual law. Similar to having specific requirements for the "Trappist" designation that do not include geography.

However the actual applied and approved application for the status (posted by smokinghole here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/stop-calling-lambic-399891/index4.html#post5037979, 4 registered applications for separate terms are available if you search for them) does not mention requiring a coolship. Just spontaneous fermentation from the air during cooling. Nor does it mention requiring wheat or aged hops (which I know Van Roy is adamant on, hence why he will not refer to Iris as a Lambic, despite it being classified as one everywhere I've seen it).

So at the end of the day, there's still room for interpretation there. As I've said a number of times now, I care about it only when it comes to a potentially uneducated consumer buying something that has been labeled and marketed as "Lambic" (or Gueuze, or Kolsch, or Trappist, or anything else applicable) when in reality it is not, even if that labeling is still legal. I don't care how homebrewers refer to their beer.
 
Oh no I made a stout but the water profile is not true to style so what can I call it? How many of us can say that all the beer we make actually meets every specific to be true to style.

"A rose by any name shall smell as sweet" I need a beer.
 
MalFet said:
I love it!

...but you're wrong. The OED backs me up on pedantic as a noun! :D
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Curses! Hoisted on my own petard!

I notice the phonemes under your name, whenever I have to deal with the International Phonetic Alphabet at work I always find myself getting really thirsty... just me?
 
bonnybunch said:
I notice the phonemes under your name, whenever I have to deal with the International Phonetic Alphabet at work I always find myself getting really thirsty... just me?
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At least once a week I'll be googling something IPA(phonetic) related and end up spending an hour reading about IPA(beer). This coincidence cuts my productivity more than I'd care to admit. :mug:
 
As was already mentioned in this thread, Mort Subite (a member of HORALs) doesn't use a coolship.

Members of HORALs also produce "lambic" that doesn't age in oak, that uses artificial flavoring/coloring, that use syrups, that use adjuncts, etc.

If only beer geeks held Belgian producers to the same standard as American home brewers....

...or would realize that lambic is a style.
 
I drink lambic I love lambic I make lambic with oak extract flavoring and I sulfite it because I like it really sweet so what, bitter beer tastes like licorice. it's lambic and lambic is feckin awesome I make it at home with oak chips and American maris otter grains I use simcoe hops wet - none of that dry suranne s**t that's lame I age lambics and I age miller lite mango they're both fruit beers lambic is a fruit beer right? so I age it and drink it out of the bottle
 
levifunk said:
Members of HORALs also produce "lambic" that doesn't age in oak, that uses artificial flavoring/coloring, that use syrups, that use adjuncts, etc.
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Which is why Cantillon isn't a member.

My apologies to all. I'm sorry I started this thread. I gave up arguing on the internet for Lent and failed.

Bickering aside, there have been some pretty darn funny posts in this thread and the introduction of the soon to be incredibly popular term 'lame-bic'. :mug:
 

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