Hanssens Oude Kriek (Cherry) Lambic 12.7 oz

Belgian Fruit Lambic

Brewed by: Hanssens Artisanaal
Country: Belgium
Style: Fruit Lambic
Color: Dark Red

ABV (Alcohol by Volume): 6.0%
Ratebeer.com rating: 98
BeerAdvocate.com rating: 92

Oude Kriek from traditional lambic producer Hanssens Artisanaal is a fruit lambic that pours dark red with a thin pink head.

Top fermented with the wild airborne yeasts specific to Belgium's Senne region, real black cherries are added to the brew maturation process. Older and younger batches are then painstakingly blended and allowed to bottle condition, resulting in a perfectly balanced sweet and sour ale.

Strong aromas of cherry, vinegar, lemon, almond, earth and oak herald a flavor profile that charts a similar course. The fruit esters, intensely tart and acidic, are countered by muted residual sweetness and expressive carbonation. The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied; the finish is long, bone dry and tart with a well hidden 6.0% ABV.

Food Pairings

Perfect as an aperitif or pair with sweet barbecue dishes, roast duck, eggs Benedict or any vegetable frittata. Pairs equally well with tart desserts like cherry pie, strawberry-rhubarb crisp, or berry-covered Belgian waffles.

Brewery Information:
Beginning in the late 19th century, Hanssens Artisanaal in Dworp, Belgium spent its first several decades brewing and blending (mostly) lambic style beers. Due to the seizure of the brewery by German occupying forces during WWI, owner Bartholome Hanssens was no longer able to sustain production as a lambic brewery, so he refocused attention on lambic blending. He purchased wort – the beer's sweet unfermented precursor – from other Senne River breweries, matured each acquisition individually, then painstakingly blended the resulting lambics together, and barrel aged the blend.

Today, Hanssens remains a traditional lambic blendery, producing only authentic, unsweetened, and unpasteurized lambics under a fourth generation of the Hanssens family.