Belgian Lambic Beer
Money quote:
Belgian scientists have deconstructed lambic and found scores of different species of micro-flora. Two important types are lactic-acid bacteria, which make lambic sour, and yeasts of the genus Brettanomyces, among them B. bruxellensis, which give lambic its characteristic aroma. "Horse blanket" is the term favored by beer cognoscenti. This is not a terribly useful olfactory cue for those of us who dwell in cities, but the scent is of hay and must -- and also of something very much alive. It is a weird concept for beer, no doubt, but strangely compelling and astoundingly complex. Needless to say, sour mustiness is a tough sell -- don't look for commercials of sweaty young things dancing to reggaeton and taking swigs from bottles of lambic.Yum!
-Cheers
5 comments:
i didn't bother reading the article, because i'm much to important to do that, so it might tell you this already, but the key step in making lambic a lambic is that at some point you leave it uncovered and let the local wild yeasts fall into the vats and start doing their thing, converting sugars into boozes.
knowing that and all the sweetness is why i don't really care for lambics.
Oh, I knew how it was made, but I had never heard it described like that. I avoid them because of the sweetness like, you. But the thought of "horse blanket", is not an appetizing descriptor.
Also I am spreading knowledge to the philistines!
Last time I was in a barn there wasn't much sweet goin' on, but I do like me a lambic.
I am sure there is a joke about animal husbandry, bestiality, or possibly the maidenly virtues of Midwestern gals that should be made.... :-)
When I ran with the historical re-enactment folks, I sampled more than a few lambics. The peach lambic was actually palatable, so long as you manage to forget that the process starts with some *very* overripe peaches...
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