As a reformed wine drinker I love the complexity of taste in lambic beers. I've tried every one I have been able to obtain in Australia so am saving for a trip to Belgium one day. I haven't brewed a lambic beer yet but am planning on doing one or two later this year so they might be ready to drink the following summer.

If I teach me to like vinegar and fruit beer can I come to Europe as well if I can afford it Renee?  . Ray W

On a separate note, I read that Peach "Wild" Beers were invented in the 1980s! Considering everything was painted peach in the 80's - no surprises there!

The other books I have from the same "Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition" series are also well worth reading:
"Farmhouse Ales" by Phil Markowski, which deals with Saisons and Bier de Gardes.
"Brew Like a Monk" by Stan Hieronymus, which deals with trappist and abbey ales.


Considering how rapidly yeast and bacteria can mutate it is highly likely that most of the lambic and trappic brewers have considerably different strains. Some of the trappist breweries are so protective of their strains of yeast that they use a different yeast to bottle condition the beer with so that nobody can culture their distinct strain.

Whitelabs and wyeast both provide yeasts containing Brettanomyces strains, as well as lactobacillus and pediococcus bacteria which you can use to produce a lambic style beer. I have heard of second hand wine casks being inoculated with B. lambicus or B. bruxellensis by home brewers to produce a more authentic lambic style beer.

However, the nuances between lambic and trappist beers are also due to other genera of yeasts such as candida/pichia, and bacteria such as enterobacteria (including escherichia coli 'fecal coliforms' for example). Supposedly there are over 80 different yeasts and bacteria found in the air around Belgium that contribute detectable flavours to their beers. These are so important that sour beers produced outside Pajottenland are not considered to be true lambics as they have a different range of yeast and bacteria strains.

Thanks for that interpretation, I can  relate to some of the terminology now that you have made it possible for me to visualise the process, though thinking in pictures has always got me into trouble before.  

Let us know how that your poo brew turns out, but I don't think I'll be asking for a sample bottle.

There are around 5 micro-organisms that produce 99% of the flavour of a lambic. The others are effectively contaminations, but because they are in tiny amounts in a strong flavoured beer, they add complexity instead of ruining the beer, and most of them you would not notice unless your palette was hightly trained to detect beer faults. Lambics were brewed for hundreds of years before they even discovered yeast, so the background of off flavours are accepted as part of the historical flavour profile. Lambics often also have some cheesy aroma from the use of old hops that have undergone some oxidation during storage.

If you do want to home brew a lambic style beer, there are shortcuts you can take because you can get pure cultures of the important organisms from Wyeast and Whitelabs. Then you can produce a lambic style sour beer without any of the odd flavour hints.

I'd be happy to receive an entire pack of lambics but there may be some unfortunate people out there that haven't developed their palate enough to appreciate them yet.

Perhaps include one or two in the regular packs and think about having some speciality packs that we can order in addition?

What is a Lambic beer exactly? I don't think I've heard of it until now. At first I read it as 'lamb' and was kinda put off thinking it was a lamb style beer..lol..oops!

cool, R. Schmidt thank you for the reply. From your explinations, I think I may have sampled a very few without knowing.

awww, now I have to wait. Already excited.