Quick bites: Lambicus
A year and a half ago, Belgian photographer Henk Cortier gave up a successful career in order to follow his life’s passion: to open a specialist craft beer shop in his adopted city of Barcelona. Despite still being in the throes of recession, the growing interest in craft beers suggested there couldn’t have been a better time. The only problem was the beer. “There are a few really good Catalan craft beers starting to emerge, but it’s hard going,” he told me one afternoon after inviting me down for a tasting. “Decent water is a basic need for great beer and Barcelona doesn’t have it (anyone who has tried the tap water in Barcelona will testify to that) and grains and cereals are very expensive here, which makes brewing craft beer ultra expensive too. I decided I’d be better off to import what I knew.”
Enter Lambicus, which takes its name from an ancient style of beer brewing exclusive to Belgium. The Lambic method is the world’s oldest beer-making method and uses no added yeast, relying instead on the spontaneous fermentation that occurs when exposed to cool air where microflora, or wild yeast, are present in the environment. Lambic is a wheat-based brew originating in Brussels, which became the first beer to be bottled using a method similar to champagne (prior to French rule, the beer came direct from its wooden cask and it needed to be drunk quickly before spoiling). The landmark Bzart Lambiek, in fact, is made exactly to the methode champenoise with a similar retail price of €48 per 75cl.
From there, all other beers in the family emerged, including the fresh and lively Oude Gueuze beers, which blend beers of different ages, Kriek Boon made with sour cherries, framboise, which has fruity raspberry overtones, and Faro, which has a low alcohol content and is sweeter thanks to the sugar beet that was added to make it more appealing to women and children back when water was too dangerous to drink.
Gueuze beers can be kept for many years and make exceptional partners for food, which was the main reason for my visit. Not being a massive beer drinker, the recent surge in interest in craft beers has prompted me to change my mind. I’m actually increasingly fond of some of the Barcelona brews, such as those coming out of the Edge Brewery in Poble Nou and Black Lab in Barceloneta (both of whom filter the water). But lambic is another ballgame entirely that starts with the popular Cantillon—a family-run concern that makes superb lambics—to the Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait, which I found to be bright and fresh on the nose, fruity and lively in the mouth, with a cheeky, lip smacking acidity. “In the old days people would crush sugar into the glass to sweeten it,” Henk told me when I asked about the sturdy glass, “but our tastes have changed. We appreciate acidity and bitterness now.” I think he’ll make a beer drinker out of me yet.
Lambicus. Tamarit 107, Sant Antoni. Tel: 93 170 75 66. lambicus.com.