Lambic

A splash of kriek deepens the tart berries and cherries in this traditional fruit crisp, ideal for bringing to summertime cookouts—scoop of ice cream, recommended.

Perhaps the oldest way of preparing grain for brewing, drying malt in the open air was traditional for lambics, white beers, and various rustic ales scattered around Europe, Africa, and beyond. Today, brewers and maltsters interested in history, terroir, and old-fashioned methods are taking their malt back out into the sun.

From a trick new cooler to deep-dive books into gluten-free brewing and lambic history, here are some picks to kick off the new year.

From books on Brussels beer and brewing with hemp to a handmade bottle-pouring cradle, here are a few recent editors’ picks that could also work as gift ideas.

In the Belgian province of Limburg, near the town of Hasselt and the Haspengouw region known for fruit-growing, the Bokke blendery is getting back on its feet.

Through dire decades for traditional lambic, this multigenerational Brussels brewery kept the flame lit long enough to witness the current renaissance. Yet Cantillon continues to explore methods for using fruit while staying true to the family’s vision.

From fresh catch to fridge favorite, this bright and flavorful warm-weather dish is a perfect foil for the refreshingly tart beer—your choice—with which it’s made.

Sour and wild beers exist on a complex plane of myriad flavors and aromas produced by bacteria, yeast, ingredients, and by-products. Randy Mosher breaks down the building blocks of what we sense, to help us identify what we enjoy.

Jean Van Roy, head brewer at Brasserie Cantillon in Brussels and heir to a 120-year-old lambic-brewing legacy, discusses his emotional approach and connection to spontaneously fermented beer—and his view on the new wave inspired by traditional methods.

Here is a homebrew-scale recipe for Burning Beard’s spontaneously fermented lambic-style beer. Including a turbid mash schedule and long boil, it’s inspired by the traditional methods followed by Belgian lambic brewers.

If you’ve tried his pale ale, Taras Boulba, then you know that Yvan De Baets has a taste for hops. But it’s the focus on subtlety, balance, and fine details like tank geometry that make the beers of this Brussels brewery so compelling.

After 13 years living abroad, our Missouri-based managing editor spent the past year getting reacquainted with the American beer scene. Here are his beery highlights.

Informed by the Belgian tradition but rooted in their own places, here are five beers brewed and blended in the manner of lambic and gueuze.

Inspired by traditional lambic brewing, here is homebrewer Kevin Foster’s recipe for his turbid-mashed base beer. Evolving variations on this recipe are key components of his award-winning annual blends.

Kevin Foster, based in Atlanta, Georgia, won a gold medal for his gueuze-style blend at the American Homebrewers Association Nationals in 2018. Here, he talks about his year-to-year process for brewing, aging, and blending wild beers.

Here are the OGs—a few of the most refined versions of the most complex drink in the world.

Try to brew it if you want—many have tried—but few beers belong to their own place more than traditional Belgian gueuze.

Joe Stange, managing editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® and co-author of Good Beer Guide Belgium, explores how that country’s wilder-side beers have continued to evolve.

Let’s get rustic: Justin Wright and Justin Kruger, a.k.a. "Two Fat Justins," show how French and Belgian country ales can lighten and brighten savory main dishes, while a splash of cherry lambic adds complex juiciness to a simple berry crumble.

Mixed-culture beers run the gamut from lighter, nuanced, farmhouse-style ales to acid-forward wild ales and lambic beers. Here, five respected brewers share favorites from these broad categories that influenced them or exemplify the best of today.