OnTap Magazine

WORLD OF BEER DITCHING THE STYLE GUIDE It is a point that is raised multiple times as we travel from brewery to brewery and it keeps surprising me. Here in South Africa we tend to think of Belgian brewers as being a bit maverick – adding fruits and spices and producing every- day drinking beers of a strength that most country’s brewers reserve for that one last beer you drink before bed. But it seems that Belgium’s longstanding beer traditions, and the deep respect the rest of the world has for Belgian ales, has actually hindered creativity – people revere the beers as they are, so why change them? Something that a lot of the brewers we visit do not care for is style labels. “We brew what we like” is a repeated refrain and one that is clearly leading to some creative and often excellent beers. When we arrive at the next brewery on our itinerary, Alvinne, it is almost instantly pointed out to us that terms like Oud Bruin or Flanders Red are not used here since they limit creativity and create certain, sometimes narrow expectations. Instead, they prefer to simply use the term ‘Flemish sour ales’ – descriptive and retaining that sense of provenance without putting themselves into a beer style box. Alvinne was established in 2004 in southwest Flanders, 50km from Ghent. The unremarkable entrance could be for any business at any industrial park anywhere, but just a fewmetres down the hallway sits a row of large foeders (huge wooden barrels) including the 6000-litre There are many steps to creating a Lambic – the turbid mash, the addition of well-aged hops, the use of a coolship to cool down the wort overnight and the ageingperiodwhichallowsthevariouswild yeasts to perform their magic. But once the fermentation process is complete, there is another step which requires just as much skill, art and knowhow: blending. Gert Christiaens of Oud Beersel doesn’t brew any beers on site, but the atmospheric space behind Beersel’s bottle store and buzzing restaurant is filled with barrel upon barrel of beer. Some contain straight Lambic or Gueuze – a blend of one, two and three-year-old Lambic. Some contain beers being aged on cherries or raspberries or peaches and others contain less traditional ingredients. Oud Beersel is a geuzesteker – a blendery that buys in Lambic, in this case from the highly respected Brouwerij Boon, then creates liquid magic on-site. Awalk past the barrels is interesting and highly photogenic, but it is the restaurant and tasting room that we’re really eager to explore. Here an extensive menu offers Lambics featuring green walnuts, Earl Grey tea and bamboo leaf, as well as more familiar versions with a variety of different fruits. Modernising the Lambic tradition while still paying deference to its centuries- old past has been at the core of Oud Beersel’s philosophy ever since Gert revived the brewery in 2005, saving it from disappearing into the history books. The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) guidelines contain a worrying sentence in the section on Lambic: “The number of producers is constantly dwindling.” Gert is determined to stop that from continuing. “It’s important to introduce Lambic style beers to a wider audience,” he says. “Someone might not like Lambic – or at least say that they don’t, but then they’ll say ‘I do like Earl Grey though, so I’ll give that beer a try’, or ‘wow, a beer with bamboo leaves – that’s weird, let’s try it’. And suddenly they’re enjoying Lambic.” It certainly seems to be working. It is a rainySundaymorningwhenwevisitandfor the couple of hours we sit sampling some of the many unique offerings, a steady stream of eclectic customers comes and goes: young couples with toddlers in tow, middle-aged men stopping for a post- church pint, smartly dressed millennials working their way through the menu and a table of grey-haired women who seem to come here often, knowing exactly what they want to order. THE ART OF BLENDING Gert Christiaens pours a round of tasters at Oud Beersel ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2022 | 37