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→The Age of Lambic
==The Age of Lambic==
Age plays an important role when discussing lambics that have not yet been blended into a g(u)euze. There is no set rule as to when a ''jonge lambiek'' becomes an ''oude lambiek''. That decision is at the brewer’s or blender’s discretion and depends on a number of factors determined by them while working with the beer. We know that g(u)euze is described as a blend of young and old lambic, and that native language words for old and young are used to describe lambic in general terms. Asking a brewer or blender to describe their lambic in Dutch would not yield words like ''‘ongemengd'ongemengd'', '''niet gemengd''', or '''ongemixt’ongemixt'', all the general equivalent to the English word ''unblended'', and are rarely, if ever used in general discussions. Likewise, the same logic applies in French.
There are two likely causes for the ''unblended'' term becoming prominent in English lambic discussions. First, though many native Dutch and French speakers will describe lambic as young and old if pushed, the most common word for discussion is still just ''lambiek/lambic''. Lambic is the base beer, g(u)euze is the blended beer. This would have presumably lead to many of the earlier English language publications discussing lambic in terms of ''blended'' and ''unblended''. That discussion, coupled with the fact that lambic beers in general were still a very obscure style to many outside of Belgium during the publication of many of the often cited beer bibles, leads one to reassess the use of the term in light of the resurgence and popularity in lambic. However, there is at least one English language publication (Guinard, 1992) that does not use the term unblended lambic and refers to the beers with generic age descriptors.<ref name="Guinard">Jean-Xavier Guinard - [[Books#Classic Beer Styles: Lambic|Classic Beer Styles: Lambic]], 1990</ref>