Mike at Nikki’s Liquors gave me a great idea… buy two lambics and do a side-by-side comparison. The reason for doing this is simple, they’re the same beer, one is just aged longer. The beers are Kriek (cherry) lambics from Oud Beersel. We started off with the Kriek, just a standard cherry lambic. This one was very sweet, almost juice-like. It was thicker and more syrupy. There was no detectable tartness or sourness to this one. In fact, I just plain didn’t care for it.
The older brother, however, the Oude Kriek Vieille, was quite different. This beer actually tasted like a lambic. It poured a nice cloudy deep red with a small pink head. It smelled nice and funky and musty (this is a good thing). The flavor was tart and sour cherries, some must and mildew (again, this is a good thing). This is what a lambic is supposed to be.
I can’t understand why this brewery, which can clearly make a great lambic, would make the regular Kriek like that. The Oude Kriek Vieille wins this one by a landslide. Susan liked them both – the first because it was a sweet dessert beer and the second because it was sour “like a true lambic”. I’ve heard rumors that one of these beers (the good one) might be featured at an upcoming beer dinner. I’ve also heard some rumors about the possibility of a sour beer dinner (that’d be one kick ass palate killer). I’m not just a hophead, I’m also a sour/funkhead.