Lambic Discussion Thread

[ridglens]

My area continues to dominate the awesome culture of craft beer. Store employees this one guy who thinks he's the bee's knees. Everyone who I know thinks he's a total pile of yup. So after ranting about how cool our distributors were a few pages back, I find out that this store (which i literally shop at ~3 times a week for food, etc.) got 6 bottles of Framboos. After hearing this I asked the guy and he started complaining about the distributors, blah blah, but they were going to sample ~3 bottles of it last Saturday. (I already know he got 1-2 bottles because when I asked the manager she said that is "His cut" and what they give him for keeping him part time.)

Flashback to Saturday, 30 tasting tickets...maybe 15 people show up. Manager let me know if they didn't sell off all the tickets, they would raffle the extra bottle(s). Wait around til towards the end and ask whats the deal? I think out of 3/4 bottles of Framboos, Fou, Kriek about 1.25 were actually consumed. Everyone's favorite employee said that he opened all the bottles and that they had to be drank. Wouldn't pass out another pour, said I had to leave and come back and buy another one at a cool $15. He says that the manager (who of course isn't there) didn't know how to run things, and they weren't going to just raffle extra bottles. I left knowing he would either drink it all there, or throw a cork in it to take home and drink. Done with that place.

tl;dr Beer is the worst.

sounds like a winner.

also $15 for 1/30th of 2-3 bottles of lambic is not a good price... (well, most of the time haha).

 

[deuce92591]

sounds like a winner.

also $15 for 1/30th of 2-3 bottles of lambic is not a good price... (well, most of the time haha).

Agreed. 4 total pours. Not worth it. Haven't had it so figured I'd try with the possibility of getting a bottle. The manager is actually decent and put a crack down on the distributors hording Loons, so I'll probably let her know at some point when I'm not boiling over.

 

[boogercrack]

I have a “vintage” release from Drie Fonteinen, the “Green Label” Geuze from 2014. This is the blend of 1, 2 and 3 year old Geuze, not to be confused with the vintage yellow label (that is all geuze from a single year).
Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze 2014 Green Label (750 ml, $28)
Drie Fonteinen Oude Geuze 2014 Green Label (375 ml, $18)

from a certian calfornia online retailer's "beer run" mailer.

the levels of wat: many.

to quote my favorite cross dressing judge on a fashion reality show i've never watched, but his gifs are great:

 

[SeaWatchman]

from a certian calfornia online retailer's "beer run" mailer.

the levels of : many.

to quote my favorite cross dressing judge on a fashion reality show i've never watched, but his gifs are great:

LOL What in the everloving ****. How? Jesus Christ someone point him to lambic.info

I wonder if he realizes that the green label is "illegal" to sell in the U.S.

 

[wyatt1]

I wonder if he is flipping volume packs from biab.

 

[boogercrack]

I wonder if he is flipping volume packs from biab.

we got a winner.

 

[The Red Viper]

from a certian calfornia online retailer's "beer run" mailer.

the levels of wat: many.

to quote my favorite cross dressing judge on a fashion reality show i've never watched, but his gifs are great:

I actually tried to tell him one time when he was advertising the yellow label bottles as OGV that they were just a different label color of the regular OG. I even sent him a picture of what actual OGV labels look like. He didn't believe me.

Used to use his shop for Pliny and Almanac and Russian River sours but the level of ******** got too high and I haven't ordered in a long time.

 

[cneville1]

My area continues to dominate the awesome culture of craft beer. Store employees this one guy who thinks he's the bee's knees. Everyone who I know thinks he's a total pile of yup. So after ranting about how cool our distributors were a few pages back, I find out that this store (which i literally shop at ~3 times a week for food, etc.) got 6 bottles of Framboos. After hearing this I asked the guy and he started complaining about the distributors, blah blah, but they were going to sample ~3 bottles of it last Saturday. (I already know he got 1-2 bottles because when I asked the manager she said that is "His cut" and what they give him for keeping him part time.)

Flashback to Saturday, 30 tasting tickets...maybe 15 people show up. Manager let me know if they didn't sell off all the tickets, they would raffle the extra bottle(s). Wait around til towards the end and ask whats the deal? I think out of 3/4 bottles of Framboos, Fou, Kriek about 1.25 were actually consumed. Everyone's favorite employee said that he opened all the bottles and that they had to be drank. Wouldn't pass out another pour, said I had to leave and come back and buy another one at a cool $15. He says that the manager (who of course isn't there) didn't know how to run things, and they weren't going to just raffle extra bottles. I left knowing he would either drink it all there, or throw a cork in it to take home and drink. Done with that place.

tl;dr Beer is the worst.

ha, where was this? i shop in toledo a decent amount so i need to make sure to avoid the hell out of this place.

 

[RyanG1]

ha, where was this? i shop in toledo a decent amount so i need to make sure to avoid the hell out of this place.

http://www.blackwellswines.com/

Use to be around the corner from my old place and would stop in, since it was near a favorite Russian Bakery.

 

[The Red Viper]

http://www.blackwellswines.com/

Use to be around the corner from my old place and would stop in, since it was near a favorite Russian Bakery.

That's the "beer run" place but I think Ryan was asking about the place in Ohio.

 

[omgeezo]

I actually tried to tell him one time when he was advertising the yellow label bottles as OGV that they were just a different label color of the regular OG. I even sent him a picture of what actual OGV labels look like. He didn't believe me.

Used to use his shop for Pliny and Almanac and Russian River sours but the level of ******** got too high and I haven't ordered in a long time.

$100 bottles of cantillon and $50 bottles of westy 12,etc all sorts of ******** from that guy, but people buy it.

 

[The Red Viper]

$100 bottles of cantillon and $50 bottles of westy 12,etc all sorts of ******** from that guy, but people buy it.

If it were just the $75-100 Fou'Founes or whatever I'd probably just overlook it, I mean that's still lower than secondary market prices and ripping people off on special releases is sadly a pretty common practice. But like $50 for regular Cantillon gueuze, and his clearly dubious practices around Russian River beers (which recently got him in trouble with distributor and at least temporarily cut off his supply of Russian River), and even more importantly his lack of concern for lying to people about what he's actually selling them etc., added up to too much for me. Not that I ever used his shop as a source for lambic or anything, it was just for west coast beer which he actually prices very reasonably mostly, but still.

 

[deuce92591]

ha, where was this? i shop in toledo a decent amount so i need to make sure to avoid the hell out of this place.

Andersons maumee. Sylvania was hoarding loons with Cavalier distribution folks. Quality stuff.

 

[cneville1]

Andersons maumee. Sylvania was hoarding loons with Cavalier distribution folks. Quality stuff.

not surprising. they were shady in columbus too when i lived there. cavalier is absolute garbage.

 

[jmarce]

from a certian calfornia online retailer's "beer run" mailer.

the levels of wat: many.

to quote my favorite cross dressing judge on a fashion reality show i've never watched, but his gifs are great:

I'm kind of sad he stopped sending them to people who haven't ordered from him. I miss that weekly email with stuff like: "Hey guys, I'm happy to be able to offer the Cantillon Gueuze Lambic Bio 750ml bottles this week for $50 (limit 1pp, these are super rare mega hard to get, I can only get 6 bottles in each order I place from Belgium for 9 euros each) Also have the a few of the 750ml Flag label Cantillon Gueuze bottles left for $75 (1pp also, these are much different than the regular label Gueuze, that's why they're 50% more expensive)"

 

[andrewdrinks]

Split a bottle of Lindemans/Mikkeller Spontanbasil in Copenhagen a couple weeks back. Very surprised at how well it worked - big basil aroma and a little bit of oil on the palate. Presumably the base was something like a Cuvee Rene blend. Would drink again.

 

[wyatt1]

Is HOARL mega blend 2009 worth tracking down? I have 2011, 2013, and 2015 on the way and I am tempted to seek out 2009 for a proper tasting.

What is it going for?

 

[The Red Viper]

Is HOARL mega blend 2009 worth tracking down? I have 2011, 2013, and 2015 on the way and I am tempted to seek out 2009 for a proper tasting.

What is it going for?

2009 HORAL was up til recently available on both Etre and BiaB. Was up on both for years, probably mostly because of the high price (20-some euros). So I would say it shouldn't trade much higher than a really expensive shelf beer, though it might be somewhat difficult to find anyone who bought extras with any intention of trading, and I imagine its value will go up steadily over time.

 

[Os]

yeah, I got my 09, 11 and 13 just before 15 went up knowing it might sell out... I think you can still get the full package deal on BiaB

 

[SeaWatchman]

Split a bottle of Lindemans/Mikkeller Spontanbasil in Copenhagen a couple weeks back. Very surprised at how well it worked - big basil aroma and a little bit of oil on the palate. Presumably the base was something like a Cuvee Rene blend. Would drink again.

If I had to make an educated guess I would say it is probably rather young-ish lambic that was aged in stainless for the most part rather than in barrels with no real blending going on.

 

[The Red Viper]

If I had to make an educated guess I would say it is probably rather young-ish lambic that was aged in stainless for the mos part rather than in barrels with no real blending going on.

Someone who had it either at Copenhagen or at Lindemans said they were told (by Mikkel or by the people at Lindemans? I don't remember) it was a blend of 1 and 2 year lambic. I think they also said it's unpasteurized. That's like third hand information so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[BusinessSloth]

Is HOARL mega blend 2009 worth tracking down? I have 2011, 2013, and 2015 on the way and I am tempted to seek out 2009 for a proper tasting.

What is it going for?

Not in my opinion. My bottle was strange, unpleasant, and did not remind me of lambic that much. I enjoyed 2011 the most out of the whole vertical.

 

[The Red Viper]

Not in my opinion. My bottle was strange, unpleasant, and did not remind me of lambic that much. I enjoyed 2011 the most out of the whole vertical.

It gets very mixed reviews. I don't know if that's bottle variation or just palate variation. I have two bottles, drinking one very soon, but I've never had it before. Karel at De Cam told me he thought 2013 was the best one, and opened a bottle while I was there, but I thought it was pretty mediocre as gueuze goes (which is to say, very tasty, but not as tasty as regular gueuze from Cantillon, 3F, De Cam, or Tilquin...).

 

[stakem1]

so this is just a random comment but seems valid for this discussion.

i dont think I care for fruited lambic... fou might be the only exception. i obviously dont drink lambic as frequently as most of the people active in this thread but ive dabbled with a pretty good spread and honestly it just doesnt do it for me.

does anyone have any recommendations for bottlings that might change my opinion?

 

[matedog]

so this is just a random comment but seems valid for this discussion.

i dont think I care for fruited lambic... fou might be the only exception. i obviously dont drink lambic as frequently as most of the people active in this thread but ive dabbled with a pretty good spread and honestly it just doesnt do it for me.

does anyone have any recommendations for bottlings that might change my opinion?

Out of curiosity, what you have tried and not been fond of?

 

[Os]

so this is just a random comment but seems valid for this discussion.

i dont think I care for fruited lambic... fou might be the only exception. i obviously dont drink lambic as frequently as most of the people active in this thread but ive dabbled with a pretty good spread and honestly it just doesnt do it for me.

does anyone have any recommendations for bottlings that might change my opinion?

I enjoy Fou and St Lam and Vig... I'll also enjoy Krieks and RdG but I do prefer un-fruited lambic and gueuze... it seems as if we are in the minority here though

 

[lazerviking]

so this is just a random comment but seems valid for this discussion.

i dont think I care for fruited lambic... fou might be the only exception. i obviously dont drink lambic as frequently as most of the people active in this thread but ive dabbled with a pretty good spread and honestly it just doesnt do it for me.

does anyone have any recommendations for bottlings that might change my opinion?

I enjoy Fou and St Lam and Vig... I'll also enjoy Krieks and RdG but I do prefer un-fruited lambic and gueuze... it seems as if we are in the minority here though

Love St. Lam and Vig and really enjoy Cantillon Kriek, but on the whole I much prefer non-fruited lambic.

 

[boogercrack]

so this is just a random comment but seems valid for this discussion.

i dont think I care for fruited lambic... fou might be the only exception. i obviously dont drink lambic as frequently as most of the people active in this thread but ive dabbled with a pretty good spread and honestly it just doesnt do it for me.

does anyone have any recommendations for bottlings that might change my opinion?

this year's lou pepe fram fresh was my favorite beer of all time.

i'm a sucker for the razzles though.

 

[stakem1]

Out of curiosity, what you have tried and not been fond of?

this weekend:
fresh rose de gambrinus
fresh loon kriek

previously:
de cam framboise
blabaer at ~1 year old
3f krieks of varying age
st lamvinus
vigneronne
b1 hommage

i vividly recall drinking framboos and armand & tommy fresh after the sour and bitter fest and thinking...why are people losing their minds over framboos when this A&T is friggen fantastic and not getting talked about

dont get me wrong...i appreciate these things for what they are but in each case dont think the fruit addition made the experience better than drinking say the straight lambic or geuze from the respective place

 

[The Red Viper]

For my own part, my tastes in lambic have changed over time...early on I was all about framboise, which is really now my least favorite traditional type of lambic. My appreciation for non-fruited lambic has definitely gone up steadily over time and IMO, gueuze is a very special thing that takes time and experience for most people to really fall in love with, whereas the fruited stuff is more appealing off the bat I guess. There are exceptions, especially Cantillon gueuze which is really bright and acidic compared to a lot of other lambic and so probably more friendly to most American palates...including mine initially, but I've come to love De Cam, 3F, even Boon and obscure stuff that isn't as sour or accessible as Cantillon, just as much, or probably more in the case of De Cam. Like, I am currently giddy with excitement about the Cuvee Rene Special Edition, and I doubt most people feel that way.

At this point my favorite type of lambic (which is to say, my favorite type of beer) is probably kriek, though gueuze and unblended lambic are close behind. I like framboise and a lot of specialty fruited stuff like Quetsche or Vigneronne less well than gueuze or kriek. Fou and St. Lam are the biggest exceptions (so is Mamouche for me actually, but I'm totally obsessed with flower drinks and weird herbal stuff). So I guess overall I don't have a general preference of fruited vs. not and tend to think of them as fairly different things--lambic is more of a method than a "style" and I think of gueuze, kriek, etc. as their own styles really.

It sounds like maybe you like the funky and subtlety of gueuze/straight lambic and the fruit covers up some of that? If that sounds right I'd recommend trying aged fruited lambic from of the blenders that favors brett and funk over jam and acidity. In particular aged De Cam Oude Kriek is a glorious thing, and far brettier (and less one-dimensional) than like Cantillon's common fruited stuff. Some people might recommend Quetsche as well--I don't really like it that much (much prefer Tilquin gueuze) but I can see how it might appeal to someone who wasn't that into fruity lambic, as the fruit is very subtle compared to kriek or framboise, but does add something unique.

But really, if you find you prefer non-fruited stuff, then I'd mostly continue looking for non-fruited stuff, yeah? Sample the fruited lambic occasionally to see how your tastes evolve, but may as well stick with what most appeals to you.