There is no greater dichotomy [[File:LambicInfoDragon.png|right|450px]][[An_Overview_of_Lambic|← An Overview of Lambic]]==A Brief History of Lambic in a Belgium==No beer style has a greater dichotomy than there is with lambic. For many, lambic it is an entry level beer, marketed to be as easy drinking, sweet, and a great transition for people who didn’t previously generally do not like the taste of beer. On the other side is a complex beverage, : an acquired taste that is considered to be one of the best, most valued, connoisseur beers in the worldevolved and sought after tastes among beer aficionados.
Lambic ===Section Title===The dichotomy between sweetened and unsweetened lambic has been sweetened represented for more than 200 years. Until the mid -1800’s , when pressurized barrels enabled beer to move more freely, beer in Belium was primarily lambic and Faroblended into faro. Faro Traditional faro is lambic that has been sweetened with brown sugar. Drinkers who didn’t did not appreciate the tart nature of lambic would add one or two lumps of sugarto make the beer more palatable. A tool called a ‘stoemper’ was often used in lambic to help the sugars dissolve faster. Of course, in spite of Despite the popularity of Faro faro and sugar sweetening, traditional some lambic drinkers insisted on drinking their lambic “neat“neat”.<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen,”. [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
This trend has not gone away entirely. In the 1940s and 1950s, the demand for sweetened lambic continued to growas consumer tastes trended toward the sweeter side of things. “After During World War II, consumer tastes became sweeter with those brewers who were still able to brew were severely restricted in terms of the quality and quantity of their ingredients. In order to continue producing kriek, many brewers added extra flavorings and colorings to combat the lack of available fruits. With the success of cola and soft drinks, both small and the big large brewers in particular played to followed this trend by bringing ‘capsulekensgeuze’ capsulekensgeuze to the market. “<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> Capsulekensgeuze was generally comprised of a blend of lambic and top-fermented beer, was filtered, pasteurized, sweetened, pressurized with CO2 and bottled into 25cl bottles. Belle Vue and other lambic brewers also began the process of using pasteurization to pasteurize their beers to prevent bottle conditioning and potential bottle explosions as a result of the residual sugars being left in the beers. Filtration also removed many of the bugs and created a cleaner beverage suited for the soda drinker market.
Sweetened ===Section Title===Shortages in fruits traditionally found in Belgian lambics also played a part in the addition of fruit juice and extracts. After 1945, European agriculture was in dire straights, and many producers were left unable to grow or supply fruits. Postwar food rationing and a rise in sugar consumption in general also played an important role in the shift to sweeter beers. In the postwar era, much of the sweetened lambic was primarily the result of blending young lambic or other top fermenting beers that contained significant residual sweetness with more tart, aged lambic. As time progressed and fruit lambic became popular in the 1980’s, fruit juices were used to further sweeten lambic (as seen in the De Troch fruit lambics). This was done both to satisfy the market for a sweetened product and because of a shortage of fruit. Lindemans, for example, began sweetening in 1972-1973 because of a shortage of Schaeerbeekse Cherries<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”LambicLand>Jef Van den SteenTim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#Geuze & KriekLambicLand: The Secret of Lambic BeerA Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|Geuze & KriekLambicLand: The Secret of Lambic Beer]A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World], 2012</ref>. Currently, fruit juice sweetened, pasteurized beverages dominate lambic sales. Some lambic are even sweetened with Aspartame or Saccharin<ref name="Oxford">Garrett Oliver, [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-Beer-Garrett-Oliver/dp/0195367138 The Oxford Companion to Beer], 2011</ref>, listing 'sugar substitute' as an ingredient on their beer labels.
Significant confusion over traditional (fondgeuze) and sweetened lambic (capsulekensgeuze) products ensued. The contrast among the beer styles was squeezing out traditional lambic. While [[Brouwerij_Lindemans|Lindemans]], for example, began sweetening has played in 1972-1973 because of a significant role in the history and success shortage of lambic throughout the yearsSchaeerbeekse cherries<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, the purists continued to fight to protect traditional lambic. Jean-Paul Van Roy is quoted in [[Books#Wild_BrewsGeuze & Kriek:_Culture_and_Craftsmanship_in_the_Belgian_TraditionThe Secret of Lambic Beer|''Wild BrewsGeuze & Kriek: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition''The Secret of Lambic Beer]] as saying “The sweet lambic, the sweet fruit beer2012</ref>. Some lambics are even sweetened with Aspartame or Saccharin<ref name="Oxford">Garrett Oliver, and the sweet gueuze don’t exist[http://www. It’s impossibleamazon. If it is very sweet there are three possibilities: It is not a lambiccom/Oxford-Companion-Beer-Garrett-Oliver/dp/0195367138 The Oxford Companion to Beer], it has aspartame added2011</ref>, or it is pasteurizedlisting 'sugar substitute' as an ingredient on their beer labels. Lambic is a natural product As fruit lambic became more and more popular in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, fruit juices were used to further sweeten lambic.”<ref name=“WildBrews”LambicLand>Jeff SparrowTim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#Wild BrewsLambicLand: Culture and Craftsmanship A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the Belgian TraditionWorld|Wild BrewsLambicLand: Culture and Craftsmanship A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the Belgian TraditionWorld]], 2005</ref> [[Brouwerij_De_Troch|De Troch]] uses this process today for their fruit lambics both to satisfy the market for a sweetened product and to introduce more exotic fruit flavors into the beer that were not readily available in Belgium.
In 1997===Section Title===Significant confusion over unsweetened and sweetened lambic products ensued, through and some brewers note that sweetening lambic was squeezing out traditional lambic. Jean-Pierre Van Roy is quoted in [[Books#Wild_Brews:_Culture_and_Craftsmanship_in_the_Belgian_Tradition|''Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the hard work of individuals such Belgian Tradition'']] as Van Roy saying that “the sweet lambic, the sweet fruit beer, and Frank Boonthe sweet gueuze don’t exist. It’s impossible. If it is very sweet there are three possibilities: It is not a lambic, it has aspartame added, or it is pasteurized. Lambic was granted European Traditional Specialties Guaranteed (“TSG”) statusis a natural product. ”<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> “HenceforthHowever, capsulekensgeuze history has shown that sweetening has been called simply ‘gueuze’ played a significant role in the history, success, and survival, of lambic in general throughout the original gueuze ‘oude gueuze’years. Indeed, with Jean Van Roy has agreed on at least one occasion that his father was using saccharine to sweeten beers as a “means to basically save the adjective ‘oude’ brewery … because people wanted sweet things.” <ref name=summit9>[[The Lambic Summit 2010#Part 9|The Lambic Summit 2010, Part 9]]</ref> Sweetening lambic was viewed as an honorary title that guarantees that the beer has been prepared a normal part of the old, traditional waybusiness.”
As lambic brewers and blenders began to recognize the importance of keeping the older traditions alive, some banded together to form [[HORAL]]. This group aims to promote lambic beers, brewing, and culture in Belgium. Their stated goals are "to promote the craft lambic beers and related products, paying attention to the entire process of brewing to serving lambic; denouncing irregularities concerning artisanal lambic beers and related products; take steps to protect the traditional lambic beers and related products".<ref name = HORALAssociation> HORAL - Association, Members, and History, http://www.horal.be/vereniging (Dutch)</ref> HORAL has worked to obtain and maintain current European Protections on traditional lambic beers since the Traditionally Specialty Guaranteed (TSG) label was assigned to them in 1997.<Ref name = Avermaete&Vandermosten> Tessa Avermaete and Gert Vandermosten, Traditional Belgian Beers in a Global Market Economy, 2009 </ref> It guaranteed that any sweetened geuze would simply be called ‘geuze’ and any fully traditionally produced geuze would be called ‘oude geuze’, with the adjective ‘oude’ as a title that guarantees that the beer has been prepared the old, traditional way. All lambic producers except Cantillon, who is not part of HORAL, have generally followed this terminology. The reason being is that they feel no need to distinguish their product as such because everything they make is traditional. This is not to say, however, that all HORAL members make all traditional products. It is well noted many HORAL members make both unsweetened products as well as sweetened products. Today breweries like [[Brouwerij_Timmermans|Timmermans]] and Lindemans produce both sweetened and unsweetened products. Recently, Lindemans has moved to sweetening their lambics with stevia, a natural product.<refname=LindemansCommunication>Brouwerij Lindemans, Personal Communication, 2014</ref> <refname=LindemansFram> Merchant du Vin, [http://www.merchantduvin.com/brew-lindemans-framboise-lambic.php Lindemans Framboise Description] </ref> ===Conclusion===Both sweetened and traditional lambics have a complex [[A_Brief_History_of_Lambic_in_Belgium|history ]] in Belgium. While unsweetened lambic has made a significant comeback, the sweetened products continue to dominate salesfor many of the larger breweries. Exploring It is easy to dismiss sweetened lambic as poor quality or even laziness on the part of the brewers, <ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]] </ref>but exploring both varieties provides a more comprehensive understanding of the history of lambicbeers in Belgium, the various [[Brewing_Lambic|brewing techniques]], and its impact on the world survival of beerlambic in general. To dismiss out-of-hand sweetened lambic as non-traditional is to dismiss a significant chunk of lambic culture.
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