Lambic Discussion Thread

[regularjohn]

so after cracking the LP framboise i decided i need to find more, are the kriek and gueze on par with it? it was a 2009 sticker - 2011 on the cork. it was the perfect mix of raspberry and sour, when it warmed up it was reallllllllllllllly sour but still amazing, brought out a lot of different flavors i really enjoyed it. im still dying to try dat fouuuuuuu..hopefully i can land one for my bday

 

[Dpaquet]

The Fou I opened the other night barely had any apricot flavor at all, anyone experience that with the '13 batch? Having it on tap last Zwanze was one of the best drinking experiences I've had, but I'm hesitant to trade for more after that last bottle.

Also, I recently tried the Yuzu lambic form Owa. Wasn't bad, but a bit disappointing after how good the Japanese Plum one was. 10/10 label, though.

The one i had yesterday was really good. One of the best bottles of foufoune i have had. Nice fruit and good sourness. I also liked it better than last year.

 

[Pneill3161]

so after cracking the LP framboise i decided i need to find more, are the kriek and gueze on par with it? it was a 2009 sticker - 2011 on the cork. it was the perfect mix of raspberry and sour, when it warmed up it was reallllllllllllllly sour but still amazing, brought out a lot of different flavors i really enjoyed it. im still dying to try dat fouuuuuuu..hopefully i can land one for my bday

LP kriek yes, LP gueuze no. I wasn't a big fan of the gueuze and others who I know feel the same. Would rather drink classic.

 

[stupac2]

I opened a LPK last night and got this:

Beer tasted fine! Hurray Cantillon's ****** corks/caps!

LP kriek yes, LP gueuze no. I wasn't a big fan of the gueuze and others who I know feel the same. Would rather drink classic.

LPG gets magical with some age.

 

[Michigan1]

Do Lambics suffer from the effects of cork taint like wines do?


Please leave you taint jokes at the door.

 

[ASUBeer]

Do Lambics suffer from the effects of cork taint like wines do?


Please leave you taint jokes at the door.

I had all these taint jokes lined up but you rectum.

 

[regularjohn]

I had all these taint jokes lined up but you rectum.

 

[Michigan1]

I had all these taint jokes lined up but you rectum.

Butt holed on to them. There will be a change to use them later.

 

[stupac2]

Do Lambics suffer from the effects of cork taint like wines do?

I thought that problem was pretty much eliminated by modern corks.

 

[LukeAleTime]

How available is Lou Pepe in the USA now? We don't see any down under anymore. Does it come in normally?

 

[MordorMongo]

Cork Taint is officially the new name of my band.

 

[infi]

How available is Lou Pepe in the USA now? We don't see any down under anymore. Does it come in normally?

I used to see it around 2 or 3 years ago, but haven't since then.

 

[drgarage1]

How available is Lou Pepe in the USA now? We don't see any down under anymore. Does it come in normally?

Once, maybe twice a year, but in extremely small quantities that either vanish quickly or see their prices jacked up to preserve supply. I hear Canada is still decent, especially Vancouver.

 

[Michigan1]

I thought that problem was pretty much eliminated by modern corks.

Not in the slightest (unless you're referring to synthetic or composite corks). 5-10% of wines coming out of California are found to be tainted. This is due to TCA and TBA. The off flavor caused by these chemical compounds are moldy newspaper, wet dog, damp cloth, or damp basement. I have sensed some these characteristics in a few older bottles of Lambic (I imagine you have too) and agree that they are off flavors. I notice that Cantillon uses pretty low grade cork on their bottles too (large pores, long cracks, and heavy porosity). The cork I pulled out of my Schramm mead was ****, too. I don't know why something like mead isn't corked with a synthetic cork, and I guess the same goes for Lambic.

 

[stupac2]

Not in the slightest (unless you're referring to synthetic or composite corks). 5-10% of wines coming out of California are found to be tainted. This is due to TCA and TBA. The off flavor caused by these chemical compounds are moldy newspaper, wet dog, damp cloth, or damp basement. I have sensed some these characteristics in a few older bottles of Lambic (I imagine you have too) and agree that they are off flavors. I notice that Cantillon uses pretty low grade cork on their bottles too (large pores, long cracks, and heavy porosity). The cork I pulled out of my Schramm mead was ****, too. I don't know why something like mead isn't corked with a synthetic cork, and I guess the same goes for Lambic.

I've never noticed this, actually.

 

[cparles]

I've never noticed this, actually.

In wine, or lambic?

 

[stupac2]

In wine, or lambic?

Well, both, but I've probably consumed parts of, oh I dunno, maybe 100 bottles of wine in my life. I don't drink it often.

 

[callmemickey]

Do Lambics suffer from the effects of cork taint like wines do?


Please leave you taint jokes at the door.

Yup. They definitely do. However, given the funk and acidity of lambic, I think cork taint only really becomes noticeable and is an issue with extended aging.

 

[Michigan1]

Yup. They definitely do. However, given the funk and acidity of lambic, I think cork taint only really becomes noticeable and is an issue with extended aging.

That was my feeling. Do you have any thoughts on the cork quality used at Cantillon and why they haven't switched to synthetic corks? Cost?

 

[GetchaPull]

LPG gets magical with some age.

THIS

 

[kscaldef]

5-10% of wines coming out of California are found to be tainted. This is due to TCA and TBA.

This is one of these oft-quoted statistics which I find hard to believe based on personal experience. I've been an avid wine drinker for 17 years, and I think it's safe to say that I've opened over 1000 bottles, either at home, at friends houses, or bottles ordered at restaurants. Not a single one of those bottles was tainted that I could detect (or anyone else I was drinking with, including trained sommeliers in many cases). I've had bad wine, oxidized wine, brett-infected wine; but the only time I've ever encountered a corked wine was at a tasting where dozens of bottles were opened and one bad bottle was encountered and passed around for people to experience what it's like. It was very distinctive and I'm confident I would recognize it if I encountered it again.

 

[degardebrewing]

This is one of these oft-quoted statistics which I find hard to believe based on personal experience. I've been an avid wine drinker for 17 years, and I think it's safe to say that I've opened over 1000 bottles, either at home, at friends houses, or bottles ordered at restaurants. Not a single one of those bottles was tainted that I could detect (or anyone else I was drinking with, including trained sommeliers in many cases). I've had bad wine, oxidized wine, brett-infected wine; but the only time I've ever encountered a corked wine was at a tasting where dozens of bottles were opened and one bad bottle was encountered and passed around for people to experience what it's like. It was very distinctive and I'm confident I would recognize it if I encountered it again.

I'd agree that it's overstated, particularly in wines over the last 10 years, but 5%+ is my experience in pre 90's (approx) bottles, maybe 1-2% less post 50's-80's. Definitely don't come across it much in the first few years of aging in my experience.

Lambic, yet to see. Maybe I just can't discern it from the funk or haven't had enough old bottles. I'm sure it's there though.

 

[oldp0rt]

While we're in this discussion of corks and affecting the liquid inside. I've read that having cedar in your cellar will affect your bottles negatively because of the strong odors secreted by the wood.

Anyone have any experience with this good or bad?

 

[Michigan1]

This is one of these oft-quoted statistics which I find hard to believe based on personal experience. I've been an avid wine drinker for 17 years, and I think it's safe to say that I've opened over 1000 bottles, either at home, at friends houses, or bottles ordered at restaurants. Not a single one of those bottles was tainted that I could detect (or anyone else I was drinking with, including trained sommeliers in many cases). I've had bad wine, oxidized wine, brett-infected wine; but the only time I've ever encountered a corked wine was at a tasting where dozens of bottles were opened and one bad bottle was encountered and passed around for people to experience what it's like. It was very distinctive and I'm confident I would recognize it if I encountered it again.

Interesting. I don't drink too much wine, but the shop I frequent has a lot of bottles that people (including the owners) have brought back and claim are corked. I could be wrong here, but that's the figure I see most often.

 

[ThreeFishes]

I was wondering if anybody can tell me anything about De Neve Gueuze. I recently received an unlabeled, green glass, corked and caged bottle. My friend who sent it told me it is a 1991 De Neve. I can find very little info about this beer. It has a few reviews over on the other site that are pretty good. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Pneill3161]

I've recently had a '84 gueuze and '88 faro from Eylenbosh, both had some really nasty cork smegma. Don't know if it impacted the flavor at all but both were definitely an exploration of new flavors, probably mostly oxidation, but the gueuze was remarkably well preserved and while tasting like nothing I've ever had before, it was very enjoyable and very complex.

 

[jedwards]

I was wondering if anybody can tell me anything about De Neve Gueuze. I recently received an unlabeled, green glass, corked and caged bottle. My friend who sent it told me it is a 1991 De Neve. I can find very little info about this beer. It has a few reviews over on the other site that are pretty good. Any info would be appreciated.

A few of these 1991 De Neves have been going around over the last year (not sure offhand where they're coming from) -- we opened one in September and I thought it was pretty excellent. Had some of that old, earthy mellow sourness but not much of the mustiness I'd typically expect from a 20+ year old lambic. Nice citric qualities, some mineral. Mine had "91" written on the cork.

 

[kscaldef]

I was wondering if anybody can tell me anything about De Neve Gueuze. I recently received an unlabeled, green glass, corked and caged bottle. My friend who sent it told me it is a 1991 De Neve. I can find very little info about this beer. It has a few reviews over on the other site that are pretty good. Any info would be appreciated.

One of those reviews is mine...

Not sure what info you are looking for exactly. The bottle I had was similar: unlabeled and dusty, the only identification was a DN 91 someone had written on the cork, although I have no idea at what point in it's history that happened. It seems likely to me that this is one of those beers where a couple cases surfaced out of someone's cellar and have been trickling out, given the dominance of the 1991 vintage in reviews.

Of the really old gueuze I've had, it was certainly the best, although I can't claim to be particularly experienced in this arena.

Finally, I leave you with these two reviews, which I find oddly more similar in style than I would have expected:

http://dontdrinkbeer.com/2013/02/11...eer-that-is-older-than-your-girlfriend-sicko/

http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000015.html

 

[kscaldef]

I've recently had a '84 gueuze and '88 faro from Eylenbosh, both had some really nasty cork smegma. Don't know if it impacted the flavor at all but both were definitely an exploration of new flavors, probably mostly oxidation, but the gueuze was remarkably well preserved and while tasting like nothing I've ever had before, it was very enjoyable and very complex.

84 Eylenbosch was one of the most unique things I've ever drank. I didn't really even have words to describe it, just unlike anything else I've come across.

 

[Stevedore1]

Back to the Fou' Foune discussion a few pages back- I've had 2013 twice so far; at about 3 months (think it was in October or November) and now 8 months as of last Saturday.

The 3 month Fou' Foune was very apricot forward, tart in a fruity sense and appropriately funky. Best smelling Fou' Foune I've had, it's permasmiles for me. I missed some of the sour flavors that I've had in older Fou' Founes, though. It was more fruit than lambic.. amazing but made me realize I probably prefer it to develop for a few months first.

The 8 month was a revelation in that it was still very apricot forward but the funk and sour had racheted up to stand up to the fruit which I think made a huge difference. I also felt that the base lambic exhibited geueze-like qualities very well in this one- peppery, lemon zesty, moldy hay, etc. even more than the past Fou' Founes I've had. Those characteristics reminded me of Zomer, which was an incredible geuze. So drinking this 8 month Fou' Foune tasted like Zomer + apricots.. really rustled my jimmies.

I'm going to say that my personal window of drinking Fou' Foune is at 8-12 months now but I'm sure that'll continue to evolve. Will probably open my last '13 in August at the 1 year mark. I do kind of want to try a 3+ year old bottle for the sake of science though..