Lambic and Wild Ale

Unless yet another wild ale from Russian River comes my way soon, this will be the last Russian River review for awhile.  Temptation is a blond ale aged in used French Oak chardonnay barrels and is the brewery’s most recent 750 ml bottle release. Prior to tasting this beer I expected that I would enjoy it but that it would not compare to Beatification, the best Russian River beer I have tasted so far, and this turned out to be correct.

I was most concerned about the use of chardonnay barrels. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this grape but, as we all know after watching the comedy-drama Sideways, chardonnay is one of the most  abused grapes in the United States; dulled by secondary malolactic fermentation and the vanilla taste of  oak.  Of course, the use of old oak is one of the essential elements in traditional lambic brewing and contributes to the fermentation of the beer and its complexity. The danger with the use of new oak, however, is that such advantages risk being offset by the oak dominating at the expense of other flavors. In this sense, oak has similar effects  such as leaving too much residual sugar in a beer (or wine). Fortunately, Temptation is barrel aged in old French chardonnay barrels for 9 to 15 months but the oak is certainly present. As in the other Russian River wild ales, souring bacteria and Brettanomyces are used and the resulting brew is refermented in the bottle.

The following notes were taken on Friday, September 11, 2009:

Batch 004X1. Poured into a Cantillon Geuze glass.

Appearance: Pours a very fizzy head (2-3 fingers) with lots of carbonation. Blond. More head retention than expected.

Smell: Soft barnyard smell. Brettanomyces. Some citrus and a little sweet and spicy.

Taste:  Brettanomyces. Slightly sour. Round “numbing” taste, ending on a neutral note. Yeasty. Light in flavor. Grapefruit. Soft tannins.

Mouthfeel: Medium. Fizzy. Light on the tongue and buttery.

Drinkability: Less drinkable than some of their other wild ales. Perhaps the fuller and fizzy mouthfeel contributes to this.

“Is it beer, or is it wine?” asks the label on the bottle. After drinking Temptation I am inclined to answer that the similarities with wine are more than countered by the surprisingly dominant note of the brettanomyces yeast. I do not recall having tasted a beer from Russian River where the brett contributed so much to the smell and flavor. This combination of brett and chardonnay  is certainly unique, if not provocative.

It is not hard to “reverse-engineer” why I enjoyed this beer less than Consecration and Beatification. There is the royal presence of brettanomyces without enough sourness or hops to balance it.  And as far as the wine barrel of choice is concerned, chardonnay does not rank among my favorite wines (perhaps next time, Russian River can pick a Savennières barrel from the Loire Valley in France). I found this beer just a little too soft and buttery for a wild ale and the finish was remarkably short and neutral. I would not hesitate to drink Temptation over most American ales but I do not care as much about this beer as  I do about the other Russian River sour ales.

Is this possible to make a lambic in the United States? This depends on the definition of what constitutes a lambic (brewing process or location) but the ongoing attempt by Allagash to use the usual ingredients, a cool ship, and  real spontaneous fermentation could do it. In the meantime,  some of the beers made by Russian River are coming closer in terms of brewing process and taste.  Few, if any, American wild ales have come as close to the smell and taste of an actual Belgian Geuze as Russian River’s Beatification.

Beatification is a blend of two vintages of a base beer called “Sonambic,” which are further blended with “a couple of other orphan beers” to change the mouthfeel of barrel aged beers or enhance its acidity. Beatification was aged for 8 to 15 months in old Oak Barrels (at least 5 years according to Russian River’s website) which impart little wine or oak notes to the beer. Its “spontaneous” character lies in the wild yeasts and bacteria which inhabit the barrels.  This method comes a lot closer to traditional lambic brewing than just adding a lambic or Flanders Red culture to the beer. Like traditional Geuze, Beatification undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle, which, as all the Russian River wild ale bottles, feature restrained and beautiful labels.

Because we did not have an opportunity to try this until a family member from California visited us, the beer that we tasted may have benefited from further aging after it was purchased in 2008.

The following notes were taken on Thursday, August 27, 2009:

Batch 003. 750 ml. Poured into a Cantillon Geuze glass.

Upon uncorking — lots of carbonation, foam came over the lip of the bottle.

Appearance: When pouring, half a finger of head which dissipated quickly. Blond / yellow beer, opaque.

Smell: Smells like a traditional Geuze. Cannot recall any American beer that smells so much like a lambic/Geuze. Brett, citrus (lemon), wheat.

Taste: Very tart, with a smooth finish. One of the strongest lemon notes I have ever tasted in a beer. Wheat. Alcohol is not very noticeable. A slight grapefruit note develops as it gets warmer.

Mouthfeel: Light. Moderate carbonation (just the right amount). Some astringency.

Drinkability: Extremely drinkable. Perhaps it is a good thing that the price prevents excessive consumption! A perfect beer to drink outside in warm weather.

One difference between Beatification and Geuze lambic that I detected is the reduced complexity in taste. In this case I am wondering whether this should be considered a defect because the bone dry and lemon-like taste is exceptional.   There are more complex Russian River wild ales but Beatification simply blows them away.  There is something to be said for alcoholic beverages that simply feature flawless execution of a specific flavor. More than one reviewer has compared Beatification to a very dry, tart white wine. In light of my preference for the dry and concentrated white wines from the Alsace region in France, this characterization does not surprise me.

Since this beer was so close in taste to a traditional Geuze it would be interesting to  use an analytical chemistry technique like chromatography on this beer to determine its chemical profile and compare it to traditional lambics and other wild ales.

After tasting Beatification there is no doubt in my mind that Americans can compete with the best traditional Lambic brewers if  instant gratification is suppressed and the temptation to sweeten the beer, the use of new oak , and excessive carbonation is discouraged. All these pitfalls have been avoided in Beatification.

Of all the wild ales that are currently available in the United States, Beatification ranks among the best.

Let us look at some similarities between lambic beer and wine. First of all, there is presentation. Lambic beers are often sold in 750 ml champagne bottles with distinctive labels. For example, Cantillon bottles feature beautiful labels with artwork produced by local artists or family members. Then there is the ritual of serving lambic. In ideal circumstances, a cool (but not chilled) bottle of aged geuze is retrieved from the cellar, presented and poured from a wicker basket. Some lambic beers are best suited to serve in wine glasses (unblended lambic, grape lambic) or in champagne flûtes

Second of all, experienced wine drinkers often like lambic beers. Unlike many beer drinkers, who often go through progressive stages of sampling sour beers before getting an appreciation of traditional lambic, wine drinkers have been observed to take an instant liking to brews like Cantillon. Cantillon’s Jean-Pierre van Roy has drawn attention to the fact that the Cantillon Gueuze museum in Brussels is often visited by wine aficionados.

Finally, there is, of course, the production of lambic itself with its use of barrels, aging, and blending. Some lambics are aged in wine or cognac barrels and are released to the market as special Cuvées or as a Grand Cru. There is a rich history of blending lambic with grapes. Cantillon produces two fruit lambics from grapes: Vigneronne (lambic with muscat grapes) and Saint Lamvinus (lambic with merlot and cabernet franc).

This raises an obvious question: what can a lambic connoisseur drink when no lambic beers are within reach? Let’s say you are in a restaurant with your friends and the menu contains a tiny list of beers that only features Lindemans Kriek. You do not want to be a spoiler so you look at the wine list. Now, it first should be noted that liking lambic does not necessarily predict what other alcoholic bevarages one likes. So it should be clear that there is a strong element of personal preference involved in this review. I will not focus on other beer styles (obvious choices for the lambic drinker are Flemish reds and some of the wilder saisons) and confine myself to wine.

Red or white wine? I don’t think it is possible to rule out either of them. One could argue that the lack of tannins in (most) whites more closely resemble the preference of  old oak (or chestnut) barrels by lambic brewers. On the other hand, one could argue that the greater complexity and aging potential of red wines should resonate better with lambic drinkers. Since the idea that white wines are necessarily less complex or lack aging potential is a myth I do not think this view can be sustained. Because the wines that are often praised by writers on lambic are whites, and I prefer whites myself, I shall mostly confine myself to white wines and leave the reds to another inspired lambic drinker.

One relatively obscure type of wine that is occasionally discussed in the context of lambic (notably in Jean-Xavier Guinard’s book “Lambic”) is vin jaune, or “yellow wine.” Vin jaune is a very unique type of white wine made in the Jura region of Eastern France and made from the Savagnin grape. But unlike other regions that produce wines from this grape, in the Jura the resulting wine is matured in old barrels for at least five years. During this period a thin film of yeast (the voile) forms on top of the wine and prevents the wine from further oxidation. The wine is bottled in characteristic 62 cl small bottles and have great aging potential.

The similarities between lambic and vin jaune are more to be found in its production than in taste, with aged unblended lambic coming closest. In terms of aroma, Vin Jaune is more similar to dry sherry than other wines. If one likes sherry there is a good chance that one likes vin jaune (and vice versa). One interesting aspect that lambic and vin jaune have in common is that both alcoholic beverages are sometimes returned to the store by buyers who did not know what to expect and feared that they purchased a product gone bad. Like straight lambic, vin jaune can be enjoyed at cellar temperature with cheese and nuts. Another similarity is price; expect to pay a lot for vin jaune, even if you are used to buying good wines. Not a vin jaune, but a good introduction to these types of oxidized wines is Chateau d’Arlay’s Cotes du Jura Blanc, which is a blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin grapes matured in old oak barrels.

Although the riesling grape is praised by wine writers for its high acidity, minerality, and elegance, most (American) wine drinkers associate riesling with desert wines of high residual sugar. As a consequence, some of the best dry rieslings in the world can be obtained for prices that would be unheard of for more popular white grapes and reds.

Maison Trimbach is to riesling wines what Cantillon is to lambic. This Alsace winery has been around since 1626 and is renowned for its dry and laser-sharp rieslings. Like Cantillon, the Trimbach family has a strong commitment to their style of  (white) wine making and do not shy away from expressing their philosophy in the strongest terms, as  illustrated by the following quote from Hubert Trimbach:

We are Protestants. Our wines have the Protestant style — vigour, firmness, a beautiful acidity, lovely freshness. Purity and cleanness, that’s Trimbach. No wood: I hate wood! Purity and cleanness, always. Parker has taken us in the wrong direction. He has a sweet tooth. The Americans have corrupted the taste of wine drinkers. These wines are long in cask, they do malolactic, they sit on their sediments, they get so fat that only Americans can drink them.

There are other similarities. The only exception the Trimbach family allows to their rule of making bone dry wines are the late harvest Vendanges Tardives and “noble rot” wines which, like Faro lambic, can be enjoyed as desert beverages  Like a good lambic, Trimbach dry rieslings benefit from aging. Their rare Clos Sainte Hune Riesling is considered one of the best dry Rieslings in the world.

Cantillon uses Italian muscat grapes for its “white wine lambic” Vigneronne. Muscat wines are typically sweet but, as can be expected, the Trimbach winery makes a very dry version. And just like Cantillon produces one year-round beer that is not a lambic, Iris, Trimbach produces one red, Pinot Noir, that lacks the oppressive woodiness that characterizes many reds.

This is just a brief, and subjective, review of wine styles that may appeal to lambic drinkers. Other recommendations come to mind such as the Brett “infected” and oxidized wines from Chateau Musar in Lebanon and the Savennieres wines from the Loire Valley in France. Going beyond wine, lambic drinker may want to try the unpasteurized (organic) ciders from the Dupont Family in France or the Isastegi estate in the Basque country of Spain.

Portland, Oregon, is considered one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, beer city in the United States. Even the average neighborhood deli or gas station has a greater selection of craft beers than the average supermarket in other cities.  Many people here have a healthy dislike of mass produced lagers and not a week goes by without interesting beer events. And, as can be expected, Portland brewers also have a strong commitment to organic brewing, as evidenced by brewpubs such as Hopworks and Roots.  So if Portland is Beervana, should it be easier to locate and drink traditional Belgium lambics in this town?

The answer to this question is YES. As I document in the The Portland Oregon Guide to Lambic and Gueuze Beers, there are quite a number of beer stores and pubs that sell traditional lambics.  To my knowledge all traditional Belgian lambic brews can be found in Portland with the exception of De Cam but this should not be surprising because to date De Cam is not available in the US at all. A lot rarer is finding traditional lambic on tap, but it occasionally happens, especially during the annual “Puckerfest” at Belmont Station. As a general rule, expect to pay for lambics in Portland. This does not only reflect the obvious fact that lambics need to be imported, but also the labor- and time-consuming  process of traditional lambic brewing itself, which further increases price.

Is Portland a great location for locally produced wild ales? In my opinion, NOT YET. Portland does not have the equivalent of a Russian River or Allagash brewery. To the extent that sour ales are produced in Portland they often are expensive one time seasonal experiments, stray too far from tradition, or leave the brewer with too much residual sugar. Although one cannot expect a Portland brewer to produce a traditional product like Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze without extensive knowledge, skill, and most of all, patience, there is no reason to assume there could not be a market for such beers in Oregon. And, like California, Oregon also has a strong wine culture and it is well established that traditional lambics are often found more appealing by wine drinkers than by beer drinkers.

Like traditional lambic, The Portland Oregon Guide to Lambic and Gueuze Beers is ALIVE. Please contact the author with updates, corrections, or information about events: lambicandwildaleATgmail.com