Style: Lambic
All StylesStyle Profile based on 53 recipes
BU:GU
0.10
Hops
2.5 g/L
Mash pH
5.58
Description
A fairly sour, often moderately funky wild Belgian wheat beer with sourness taking the place of hop bitterness in the balance. Traditionally spontaneously fermented in the Brussels area and served uncarbonated, the refreshing acidity makes for a very pleasant café drink. History: Spontaneously fermented wild ales from the area in and around Brussels (the Senne Valley) stem from a farmhouse brewing tradition several centuries old. The number of producers is constantly dwindling. Style Comparison: Generally has a more simple sourness and complexity than a gueuze. Traditionally served uncarbonated from pitchers, while gueuze is bottled and very highly carbonated.
Examples: The only bottled version readily available is Cantillon Grand Cru Bruocsella of whatever single batch vintage the brewer deems worthy to bottle. De Cam sometimes bottles their very old (5 years) lambic. In and around Brussels there are specialty cafes that often have draught lambics from traditional brewers or blenders such as Boon, De Cam, Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, Lindemans, Timmermans and Girardin.
- 89% Wheat (33%)
- 89% Pilsner (60%)
- 40% Pale (16%)
- 23% Toast (10%)
% of Lambic recipes using each malt category (addition % in brackets)
g/L · median with IQR range
- 15% Wheat, Flaked
- 11% Pilsner (2 Row) Bel
- 11% Flaked Wheat
- 9% Belgian - Pilsner
- 9% Rice Hulls
- 6% Pilsner (Weyermann)
- 6% White Wheat Malt
- 6% Acid Malt
- 6% Wheat, Unmalted (Rahr)
Colour = malt category · bar = % of recipes
- 21% Belgian Lambic Blend (WY3278) Wyeast
- 9% Safale American (US-05) Fermentis
- 8% Belgian Sour Mix 1 (WLP655) White Labs
- 6% WildBrew Philly Sour Lallemand
- 6% Brettanomyces Bruxellensis (WLP648) White Labs
% of Lambic recipes using each strain
- 17% Single Infusion
- 67% Step Mash
- 17% Decoction
6 recipes with mash data
- 70 ppm Ca²⁺
- 5 ppm Mg²⁺
- 23 ppm Na⁺
- 75 ppm Cl⁻
- 80 ppm SO₄²⁻
- 100 ppm HCO₃⁻
median across recipes with a declared water profile
Similar Styles
Ranked by similarity across OG, IBU, ABV, hop rate, and grist composition.