Spontaneous fermentation

In Longmont, Colorado, this small passion project devoted solely to spontaneously fermented beers trusts in data and science to better understand and guide their fermentation, aging, and blending.

Patience! Trevor Rogers, cofounder of de Garde Brewing in Tillamook, Oregon, muses on the unique expression and slow work of spontaneous fermentation.

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.

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.

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

Deploying coolships, open fermentors, turbid mashes, and decoctions, and specializing in lagers and spontaneous fermentation, the brewers at Dovetail in Chicago are among the new guard for the old ways.