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Let’s look first at the finished product called lambic: Is it possible to create a finished product, outside of the Senne Valley or the country of Belgium, which is biochemically indistinguishable from traditional lambic?
Until the late 1800s, people assumed that the right combination of wild yeasts for lambic only existed in the Senne Valley. Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, it was discovered that these yeasts already existed elsewhere in the world. In 1904, Danish brewing scientist Niels Kjelte Claussen found the yeast Brettanomyces in English beer. He presented his findings to the British Beer & Pub Association and later published them in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing. Because he found these yeasts in British beers, he chose the name “brittanomyces” (the Greek word for “British fungus”). However, a typesetter’s error has left us instead with the name “brettanomyces,” with an e. <ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
Since the yeasts for lambic are not geographically limited to the Senne Valley, what is keeping brewers, with more developed and scientifically-driven techniques, from replicating the ratios and quantities of the various strains of Brettanomyces which are found in traditional lambics and using them in the production of a beer outside of Belgium? In a word – nothing. However, does this mean an American (or Brazilian or Croatian) lambic can be brewed? Let’s defer that question for now and move on to the next topic, process.
As all lambic brewers will tell you, lambic is much more than the yeasts themselves. The brewing process for lambic is completely unique, and involves the following:
• The unique turbid mash brewing process
• An extended boil, designed to develop proteins and amino acids that protect against oxidation and acid formation, creating a wort where only certain micro-organisms can survive <ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
• A limited brewing season controlled by seasonal temperatures
• The use of a coolship and spontaneous fermentation
Given the balance of yeasts found in the Senne Valley is a primary creator of lambic’s flavor profile, and that spontaneous fermentation is equally crucial to the proper production of lambic, any attempt to move lambic production elsewhere creates a tension between these two aspects of lambic brewing which were previously in perfect harmony. It forces the brewer to ask which is more important: the biochemical composition/yeast content or the method of brewing. This is not a question that any lambic brewer in Belgium has to ask, or would want to – these two aspects of lambic production work in harmony in the Senne Valley, and elsewhere they would likely be in tension. Which is more important: that lambic tastes like a lambic, or that lambic be made like a lambic? In other words, what prevents someone from replicating all of the above? From a scientific perspective…nothing.
Spontaneously fermented beers can be produced anywhere, following the brewing processes of a traditional lambic. Jeff Sparrow reminisces in “Wild Brews” [[Books#Wild_Brews:_Culture_and_Craftsmanship_in_the_Belgian_Tradition|''Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition'']] of a conversation that he had with Jean-Pierre Van Roy:
:: ''“But don’t despair; believe it or not, you can spontaneously ferment beer anywhere in the world. Jean-Pierre Van Roy of the Cantillon brewery in Brussels told me so on my first visit. I just didn’t know what to make of the statement at the time. Since then, Van Roy’s revelation has become a great deal clearer. Van Roy told me you must develop a taste for your own local lambic, although he never had to taste one result of his suggestion.”''<ref name=“WildBrews”>Jeff Sparrow, [[Books#Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition|Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition]], 2005</ref>
Despite the recent rise in the use of coolships and spontaneous fermentation outside of Belgium, there is still significant variation in the processes and techniques used to produce these new wild ales in other regions. With this experimentation comes a wide variety of wild ales. Often they lack the complexity, or do not age and develop in the bottle well, or are significantly out of balance. They often taste very different from a traditional lambic. Often, these beers are brewed specifically with sour as a goal, as opposed to allowing the beer to develop naturally in a variety of ways, with a tartness being one of those bi-products.