Oud Beersel resurrection

Now on tap at Papago for a limited time is 'Oud Beersel Framboise'. This beer is unique for a number of reasons. The Oud Beersel Brewery in Beersel, Belgium went out of business a few of years ago due to some family squabbles despite a petition by beer aficionados to save it. The beer we have on tap was being stored at the nearby Boon Brewery when Oud Beersel went out of business. Fruit lambics typically take three years to make and usually are a blend of three year old and one year old lambic. The blending of the different vintages of lambics is more of an art than a science. Because they just let mother nature take its course an older lambic will become more sour over time. One of the most respected and traditional lambic brewers and blenders is Frank Boon. Frank Boon, not wanting to let the Oud Beersel beer go to waste that he had in his possession let the 'Oud Beersel' lambic age and last year brewed another lambic according to the original Oud Beersel recipe and then this year when the time was right blended them together, added the raspberries and voila, Oud Beersel Framboise was resurrected from the dead.

Unlike Lindemans Framboise, the Oud Beersel Framboise is not sweet but more sour like a traditional lambic used to be. It is a very refreshing summer thirst quencher. Lambic brewing is the oldest brewing method still in use in the western world. As I mentioned, Frank Boon, is one of the few brewers who still follow the old brewing traditions and recipes and do not like to make their fruit beer into a sweet 'soda pop'. In fact, on my last trip to Belgium one of the Belgium brewers categorized lambic breweries into two categories. The breweries like Boon, Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen and like the former Oud Beersel were referred to as "Traditional Breweries". The other category of breweries like Lindemans and Bellevue were referred to as 'Coca Cola' breweries for making sweet tasting lambics whose beers are preferred by more of the general populace. If you remember the previous 'Leah's Corner' article I sometimes mistakenly refer to beers like Lindemans as 'chick' beer so from now on I will remove the sexual connotation and refer to them as Coca Cola beers.

Drinking a traditional lambic requires an acquired taste. You will either love it or hate it. There just isn't any in between. Now, You probably can tell that I prefer a fruit lambic like the Oud Beersel to one like Lindemans, but it is because I have acquired a taste for sour beers. Many people who aren't so beer snobbish as myself or who don't have a taste for sour beers would like the Lindemans better. That doesn't mean that one style is 'right" and that one is 'wrong', they are just different. As a pure matter of economics in being able to make a product that is marketable and that sells the way the trend is going in Belgium it is possible that at some point in time in the future that the 'Traditional Breweries' may all disappear just as Oud Beersel did. Now you have the chance though to come in and try the two of them side by side if you wish and to decide for yourself which you like better, the old or the new.

Prost, Ron