Comments on: Lambic by Brouwerij De Troch

By: beer_scientist

beer_scientist — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:27:32 +0000

I guess technically you would have to call it a Lambic style, if you were a stickler on it being according to the region.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:23:40 +0000

on a different not…just looked into ordering bretts for my next homebrew.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:20:35 +0000

I figured they cultured the yeasts…it’s my understanding that airborne bacteria is also a coveted ingredient to a true belgian lambic. I am sure upland’s is great, I was just hinting as to whether it could truly be considered lambic.

Thoughts?

By: beer_scientist

beer_scientist — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:10:53 +0000

That’s what I was trying to get at Howard. They have lab yeast that has been harvested at some point (probably by the yeast companies and from the region where lambics are made). For the home brewer, I know that a lot of people harvest from bottles of Lambic that they’ve bought for consumption. They harvest the yeast, feed it some sugar (to get it to multiply), and pitch the dormant yeast cells. The guy with the open bucket is risking souring from lactic acid conversion and wild yeast…who knows what you’ll get.

By: howardf

howardf — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:44:14 +0000

It’s my understanding that American-made lambics are made in sealed fermentation tanks or barrels, using yeast from a lab. I’ve read up some on how to homebrew lambics, and the guy was leaving his bucket open in the kitchen for a little while, then pitching lab samples of yeast along with the dregs from other commercial lambics. He was then tossing in a piece of oak from previous batches that hadn’t been sanitized, so all of the bacteria from that was mixing in too.

By: beer_scientist

beer_scientist — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:47:55 +0000

I saw that Cantillion that you are talking about Howard. I had the Blueberry Lambic form Upland not too long ago. I thought is was just ok.

Nate,

I’m sure they harvest or get some that has been harvested along the way. When they get Bretts they have to have a source.

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:05:03 +0000

I too saw a $30+ bottle of vintage lambic.
i wonder how upland accomplishes lambic without the wild yeasts?

By: howardf

howardf — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:39:00 +0000

$7 for a lambic is a pretty fair deal. Most of them are in that range, and some are MUCH higher. I was looking at a Cantillion the other day at $35 for a 750 ml! I’ll probably give this one a shot at some point, but I definitely prefer the funky, smelly, sour lambics to the sweet versions. The last one I had was an Upland Strawberry Lambic, and the whole house stunk within five minutes of popping that cork!