Session 61: Lambic in the UK?!

The start of the 6th year of #TheSession is in the capable hands of Hoosier Beer Geek. He asks us to talk about why local beer is important, specifically what makes it better?

Did anyone ever imagine there would be a lambic blender operating within the UK? Well sour-head Alan Ross and friend Olly Neill have become those people, organising almost single-handedly a trip to Belgium to source some lambic, some wine barrels and ordering the rest of the paraphernalia required to bottle your wares.

Alan investigates the remaining aroma

I was given a tour of "the cellar" this weekend. This first trial batch was made in the garage of Alan's very understanding parents. The barrel itself takes up a fair amount of space, not to mention a third of a pallet of champagne bottles!

Beery explosion!

The lambic he sourced was a jonge Giradin, a coup for him as lambic producers are notoriously secretive; "They were extremely helpful when they realised what it was we were wanting to do, that is to create what a lot of the pubs were doing back in the 1920's and blending their own." They decided to make "Shot in the Dark" a fruit lambic not unlike a kriek, with the twist being that he used locally grown blackberries! Why the evocative name? The picture to the left should explain all! For some demonstration videos and another great write-up see here.

Bottle conditioned as taken by Alan

The beer was put on 60kg fruit in September and I was lucky enough to taste it in November, then again 6 weeks later against the base beer ."There will only be about 50 bottles sold from this batch, but that's because I plan to drink the rest!" It's a lovely pink-purple number with a fresh lemony and lactic horse blanket nose. Sweet blackberry start (subtle fruit) mouth. Sour and bretty finish begs you to take another sip and all too soon your glass is empty. Forgive the abrupt notes but this is a beer for enjoying not analysing.

In comparison the Giradin jonge lambic is bright orange and much more highly funky on the nose. I think its perhaps my first straight lambic and wasn't expecting it to be so still. The hay and brett flavours I'm expecting are there and a slightly tart finish from the beginnings of time spent in the wood. I can see why gueuze producers have to blend a few vintages to get the beer they desire.

Not one to rest on his laurels Alan has sourced warehouse space to make multiple beers at the same time and avoid the mishaps of exploding beer in the house again. He will obtain a brewing licence and register the company officially when the council has declared the premises fit.

Just a few of the many bottles lying about

Plans are already afoot for all manner of other blends, hoping to focus on showcasing local fruits if possible. "I'm able to source green goosberries, red gooseberries and white goosberries so that could be interesting. I'd love to make a lychee lambic too, though of course they'd be impossible to source in the UK!" A gueuze could also be in the offing, though this requires much more forward planning and potentially visiting three suppliers.

However it's not just lambic that Alan and Oli have their sights set on. Alan plans to brew some saisons as a cuckoo brewer on local brewery Clanconnel's new brew plant (more on this in a later post I hope!) They'll be based on iterations of that classic saison dupont, with a Bretty twist. Initially three different versions to see which works best. I'm hoping I can go along to help out on brew day as it sounds like it'll be great fun (as will be the tasting!)

So to answer the question posed at the beginning, this local beer is better as it involves cross-country collaborations, cuckoo brewing, local fruit producers and a whole host of other people and ain't too shabby either.