The Gueuzes have arrived in Switzerland

What is a gueuze? What is a Lambic?

Gueuze(in French) or geuze (in Flemish) is a type of beer obtained from the assembly of lambic beers.

Lambic (in French) or lambiek or lambik (in Flemish) is a spontaneous fermentation beer, produced exclusively in the Senne Valley (south of Brussels) and in the Pajottenland (west of Brussels).

It is a more or less acidic beer depending on its age, without sparkling or foaming, and containing about 5° alcohol. It can be consumed as it is and also serves as a basis for the production of faro, gueuze and kriek

The lambics are brewed from about 50-70% barley malt and 30-50% wheat.

During cooking, over-aged hops (2 to 3 years old) are added.

The wort is then poured into a very large and shallow cooling tank, usually installed under the roof. There, it cools in the open air overnight, where it is seeded with wild bacteria and yeasts including Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus, characteristic of the Senne and Pajottenland Valley. There is no addition of yeast unlike ales or pils. We are talking about spontaneous fermentation. The process is only used from October to May according to the adage: "In winter, breaststroke whoever wants; in summer, breaststroke who can. "The rest of the year it is too hot, the beer does not cool fast enough and the air is too rich in harmful bacteria.

The lambic is preserved and aged in oak barrels.

Lambic is rarely sold in bottles, but can be drunk in the famous LA BECASSE bar in Brussels. Not to be missed on your next visit to the Belgian capital.

So to make gueuze, young (6 to 12 months) and old (up to 3 years) lambics are mixed and the beer undergoes a second fermentation in a corked bottle, which gives the gueuze its sparkling taste.

It reaches full maturity after three years. The result is naturally acidic like all lambic beers.

The high pressure developed by the "champagnisation" of the mouth very quickly imposed the bottle to be used: only champagne bottles resist such a pressure, which is said to be two or three times the pressure of a car tyre.

If we add Schaerbeek cherries to lambic (northern cherries, sour cherries, morello cherries), we obtain a fruity gueuze called kriek. But be careful!!! There are also kriek ersatz with red fruit syrup in any beer. It is therefore necessary to ensure by reading the label that it is kriek obtained from lambic with fresh fruit added according to the traditional method and refermented in the bottle like a gueuze.

Gueuze and kriek ersatz are generally sold in 25 cl capped bottles. The authentic gueuze and kriek are produced in 75 cl champagne bottles. The capacity of the bottle is therefore already a fairly good indication of authenticity.

The "Oude Gueuze" label has obtained legal protection from the European Union. Brewers are now only allowed to call their product Oude Gueuze if the old lambic used in the process has been aged for three years, matured in oak barrels and is free of any artificial sweeteners.

It is the "day after the day before" that we can judge the quality of a drink drunk without moderation! Gueuze is a healthy drink and everyone who has drunk it knows it. After a gueuze-party we wake up the next morning as if we had taken a walk through the woods the day before.

Where did the gueuze and lambic come from?

The origin of the lambic name is uncertain. But it is very likely that the name comes from the municipality of Lembeek, where the first geuzestekerij (in Flemish) called De Vits' or gueuzerie (in French) was located, whose roots date back to 1680.

Another hypothesis is that the name Lambic comes from the word alambic. Locally, juniper is also produced by distilling the grain in stills. Because of the similarity between stills and brewing tanks, we were talking about still beer...

As for the origin of the word geuze, the Conseil Supérieur des Lambics Artisanaux suggests this version: At one time there were nearly 200 lambic breweries in the good city of Brussels. To distinguish them from each other, they were referred to by the name of the street where the brewery was located. The first gueuze saw the day on rue des Gueux. According to another Brussels source (Eurobru), the story from 1760 tells of a certain Mr Gueus, a Brussels brewer, who invented this beer to which he gave his name. According to Karel Goddeau, a cutter in Gooik at De Cam, and a brewing engineer attached to the Slaghmuylder Brewery in Ninove: the name Gueuze comes from "lambic-gaseous", i. e. "sparkling lambic".

To find out more, visit the Gueuze Museum, founded in 1978 by Jean Van Roy, at the head of the famous Cantillon brewery. He created the Musée bruxellois de la gueuze in order to promote and safeguard a unique method of fermentation in the world. Beers, tools, machines, copper tanks, barrels (some of which are more than a hundred years old) and manufacturing processes are period and constitute a precious heritage.

And to convince you to taste the real gueuze, here are the words of Jean Van Roy, interviewed by the press:

"Our production requires time and dedication to ensure the quality of our beers. We don't have much free time, we're here 6 days a week. Industrial beers are produced within 2 to 3 months, while our Gueuze is 4 years old and older. Nowadays, we find industrially made Kriek or Raspberry, but for practical and economic reasons some breweries use frozen fruit and even syrup, giving very sweet beers more similar to lemonade than Lambic. In fact, we are much closer to the world of wine than the world of beer..."

To have the Cantillon delivered to your home (in Switzerland), follow the link! Or discover many other authentic gueuzes at Beer My Guest.

To your health!