Kriek
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Kriek is a Belgian beer fermented with sour (also called Morello) cherries, traditionally coming from the Schaarbeek area. Kriek is a Dutch word for sour cherry. As the Schaarbeek cherries have become more difficult to find, some brewers have replaced these (partly or completely) with sour cherries from other regions, or even other countries.
Traditionally, kriek is made by breweries in and around Brussels using lambic beer to which sour cherries (with the pits) are added. A lambic is a sour and dry Belgian beer, fermented spontaneously with airborne yeast said to be native to Brussels. A traditional kriek made from a lambic base beer is sour and dry as well. The cherries are left in for a period of several months, causing a refermentation of the additional sugar. Typically no sugar will be left so there will be a fruit flavour without sweetness. There will be a further maturation process after the cherries are removed.
More recently, some lambic brewers have added sugar to the final product of their fruit beers, in order to make them less intense and more approachable to a wider audience. They also use cherry juice rather than whole cherries and are matured for much shorter periods.
Framboise or Frambozenbier is a related, less traditional Belgian beer, fermented with raspberries instead of sour cherries.
Some breweries, like Liefmans, make cherry beers based on Flemish Brown Ale instead of lambic. Technically, these beers should not be called kriek, although some of them are high quality products.
[edit] Traditional Kriek
- Boon Kriek
- Cantillon Kriek Lambic
- 3 Fonteinen Kriek
- Girardin Kriek 1882
- Hanssens Kriek Lambic
- Oud Beersel Oude Kriek Vieille
- Timmermans Traditional Kriek Lambic
[edit] Sweetened Kriek
- Belle-Vue Kriek Lambic
- Chapeau Kriek Lambic
- Lindemans Kriek Lambic
- Mort Subite Kriek Lambic
- Timmermans Kriek Lambic
- St. Louis Kriek Lambic
[edit] 'Kriek' based on Flemish Brown Ale
- De Ryck Kriek Fantastiek
- Liefmans Kriek
- Kasteel Kriek
- Verhaeghe Echt Kriekenbier
