Beer Style: Belgian Lambic and Sour Ale
Steady as She Gueuze
This Gueuze is a typical, traditional Belgian-style recipe. Brew frequently throughout the year cellaring your Gueuze for months to years. After a year, if you have at least 3 batches of different ages, you can begin experimenting with blending. Your best option is to test your patience and begin blending after 3 years with a minimum of 3 batches.
Flanders Red Recipe
Jamil Zainasheff provides readers with a recipe to recreate an authentically-styled Flanders Red. Just remember that patience is one of the best tools for brewing this style.
Paul Zocco’s Flemish Red Ale
Paul Zocco, owner of Zok’s Homebrewing Supplies, in Willimantic, Connecticut says, “I spent a day at Rodenbach inhaling a few Grand Crus, one of the world’s best Flemish Red there is. This beer recipe has won many golds in New England competitions and it made the second round in the 2005 National Homebrew Contest.”
Flanders Brown Ale
Horst Dornbusch profiles Flanders Brown Ale and provides readers with a recipe found here. This style is also known as Oud Bruin, which often are sour, but not always. This version adds some sour-tang to the beer’s profile.
Flanders Red: Style Profile
Brettanomyces fermentation is just one of the wonders that makes the Belgian Flanders red style so appealing.
Piatz’s Basic Lambic
Steve Piatz is a member of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association. Steve breaks down the steps to produce a delicious lambic-styled beer using just malt extracts to make for an easy brew day.
New Belgium Brewing Company La Folie clone
A wood aged sour brown ale with lots of green apple, plum and cherry notes. According to Lauren Salazar of New Belgium Brewing Co., “Never turn your back on (the barrels). They like to change on you and right when you think you know what one will do, it does the exact opposite.”
Jolly Pumpkin Brewing Company La Roja clone
“This one of our signature beers, if you will. It is loosely based in the Flanders sour red tradition.” — Ron Jeffries
Rhodan’s Back (Amber Acid Ale)
Amber Acid Ale denotes a beer that ferments with many more microorganisms than traditional brewers yeast. It is considered a cousin of the Lambic.
DewBrew Flanders Red
Inspired by Rodenbach Grand Cru, New Belgium La Folie and Love, plus Pizza Port Le Woody. Formulated with help from professional brewers in America and Belgium that have experience with this style, this is an acid ale in all its glory.
West Flanders Red Ale
A sour/acid ale recipe inspired by the brewers of the West Flanders region of Belgium. Brewers need to be patient for the proper acidity and character to develop in this beer.
Lindeman’s Lambic clone
Lindemans was founded in 1822 and has a solid reputation as a blender and brewer of traditional, authentic lambics. The brewery produces four fruit lambics: kriek (cherry), cassis (black current), peche (peach) and framboise (raspberry). This same basic recipe also can be used to emulate other fruit lambics, from fraise (strawberry) to druiven (muscat grape).
— Brouwerij Lindemans, Vlezenbeek
