Beer Review

Kriek is a refreshingly unique and tasty type of Belgian beer fermented with sour (also known as Morello) cherries. The name came from the Dutch word for this type of cherry (kriek). Traditionally "Schaarbeekse krieken" (a rare Belgian morello variety) from the area around Brussels are used. As the Schaarbeek type cherries have become more difficult to find, some brewers have replaced these (partly or some even completely) with other varieties of sour cherries, sometimes coming from other countries.

By tradition, Kriek is made by breweries in and around Brussels using lambic beer to which sour cherries with the pits are added. A lambic is a sour and dry Belgian beer, fermented spontaneously with airborne yeast said to be native to Brussels. Initially, this sweet-acid drink was obtained by adding fresh black cherries to a barrel Lambic of 6 months young. The addition of fruits provokes a new fermentation in the oak barrels. After another 8 to 12 months, only peels and stones left and the Kriek-Lambic is ready to be filtered and bottled. The residual sugar can be adjusted with straight-on fruit juice to give a refermentation in the bottle. The traditional type of fruit beer is more acid, sour and less fruity. The cherries are left in for a period of several months, causing a refermentation of the additional sugar. Typically no sugar will be left so there will be a fruit flavour without sweetness. There will be a further maturation process after the cherries are removed.

Lately, several lambic brewers have included sugar to the final product of their fruit beers, in order to make them less intense and more approachable to a wider audience. They also use cherry juice rather than whole cherries and are matured for much shorter periods.

For additional informatiom, Framboise or Frambozenbier is a related, less traditional Belgian beer, fermented with raspberries instead of sour cherries. Kriek is also related to geuze, which is not a fruit beer but is also based on refermented lambic beer. Some breweries, like Liefmans, make cherry beers based on oud bruin beer instead of lambic. These beers have a very different taste, and should not be called kriek, although some of them are high quality products.

In conclusion I would say, that it is really superb and delicious beer, has a nice sweet cherry flavor with a pink-red color, it is very hard to find something better!