One of those new attempts at genuine lambic, made since 2017 in Belgoo’s open coolship which Lambiek Fabriek also uses for their lambic – but this one is made by Belgoo itself and conditioned by Belgoo in old Bordeaux wine barrels, so still a different product from Lambiek Fabriek’s lambic even if inoculated in the same vessel. Tap at Dok Brewing Company in Ghent, glad I finally got my hands on a sample. Snow white, mousy, open and evidently unstable ‘ring’ of a head on a hazy, warm orange-hued peach blonde robe. Aroma of dusty old wooden barrels, dried lemon peel, flour, grass silage, sour grapes, very old and oxidized white wine, green gooseberries, yoghurt, some wet leather (Brett). Tart, estery onset, lots of sour grape, redcurrant and raw rhubarb sourness but not overly acidic either, some basic carbonation (so not entirely flat as I would have expected an unblended, tapped lambic to be), slick and somewhat soapy wheatiness, bready, with drying tartness continuing well into the finish, green grapes, yoghurt and a dash of lemon juice, drying woody tannins with a ‘dusty’ and rustic effect, light barnyard Brett, ending lightly earthy, tart and very fruity. Supple, young, easily drinkable but very convincing lambic, this has all the features one can expect from the genre. Not sure how e.g. HORAL feels about this, but many of these recent lambic attempts (see Lambiek Fabriek, Herberg, du Brabant and even De Ranke which is situated much further away from the Senne valley) have resulted in very credible, full-fledged lambics and if the ‘beer climate’ stays the way it is for many more years to come, then it looks as if we will be presented with more of those in the future – and hopefully see ‘finished’ products (geuze, kriek) pop up from the ones already working on their lambics right now. A very exciting evolution!

Many thanks for this bottle to Eric De Geyter. Piekna spora i trwala piana, jasne zlote i w koncu metne, niczym plaza nad Baltykiem. Pachnie gruszkami cytryna, w smaku gruszki cytryna, wytrawne i gozkie, jak na Belga dosc sporo na podniebieniu pozostaje przyjemnej goryczki. Saison jest delikatny i fajowo nachmielony.