Sweetened Lambic

There is no greater dichotomy in a beer style than there is with lambic. For many, lambic is an entry level beer, marketed to be easy drinking, sweet, and a great transition for people who didn’t previously 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 world.

Lambic has been sweetened 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 Faro. Faro is lambic that has been sweetened with brown sugar. Lambic drinkers who didn’t appreciate the tart nature of gueuze would add one or two lumps of sugar. A tool called a ‘stoemper’ was often used in lambic to help the sugars dissolve faster. Of course, in spite of the popularity of Faro and sugar sweetening, traditional lambic drinkers insisted on drinking their lambic “neat,”.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the demand for sweetened lambic continued to grow. “After World War II, consumer tastes became sweeter with the success of cola and soft drinks, and the big brewers in particular played to this trend by bringing so-called ‘capsulekensgeuze’ to the market. “ Belle Vue and other lambic brewers began the process of using pasteurization 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 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. Currently, fruit juice sweetened, pasteurized beverages dominate lambic sales. Some lambic are even sweetened with Aspartame or Saccharin, though it is unclear which as it does not appear as an ingredient on the label.

Significant confusion over traditional (fondgeuze) and sweetened lambic (capsulekensgeuze) products ensued. The contrast among the beer styles was squeezing out traditional lambic. While sweetening has played a significant role in the history and success of lambic throughout the years, the purists continued to fight to protect traditional lambic. Jean-Paul Van Roy is quoted in Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition as saying “The sweet lambic, the sweet fruit beer, and the 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 is a natural product.”

In 1997, through the hard work of individuals such as Van Roy and Frank Boon, Lambic was granted European Traditional Specialties Guaranteed (“TSG”) status. “Henceforth, capsulekensgeuze has been called simply ‘gueuze’ and the original gueuze ‘oude gueuze’, with the adjective ‘oude’ as an honorary title that guarantees that the beer has been prepared the old, traditional way.”

Both sweetened and traditional lambics have a complex history in Belgium. While unsweetened lambic has made a significant comeback, the sweetened products continue to dominate sales. Exploring both varieties provides a more comprehensive understanding of lambic, the various brewing techniques, and its impact on the world of beer.