From a peasant history, an as yet largely undiscovered craft beer called lambic, represents the lost masterpiece of the world of brewing. In chic beer emporia on the lower side of Manhattan they will ask and get $ 25.00 for a single bottle of this extraordinary brew. Yet in the cafés of its own country, Belgium, they eschew the authentic in favour of sweet imitations.
Just west of Brussels, twenty minutes from the places where the fate of Europe is decided, is an area called Payottenland. Here, among scattered villages, farmsteads and outcrops of industrial suburbia, they make lambic, probably the oldest, and certainly the most remarkable beer style, in the world.
And amidst Payottenland's ancient valleys, criss-crossed by motorways, pylons and railway lines, compromised by progress and unsure where its loyalties lie, there remains a collection of cafés in which the world's most complex beer can be enjoyed in the simplest of surroundings.
The origins of this book are as obscure as the origins of lambic itself. It was borne of the concern of three beer lovers, two English and one Flemish, that the finest craft brewing tradition in the world of beer should not fall prey to the need of globalised business to acquire a quirky brand.
The concept developed in scattered conversations and the odd slurred e-mail. And finally a realisation that if nobody else was going to record what the world is losing, then maybe we should.
These are extraordinary beers, unlike any others you will encounter. If you do not know them then first taste will probably appal you. But with knowledge we hope you will become as enthralled as we are.
WHAT'S INSIDE LAMBICLAND - TABLE OF CONTENTS
Thank you - Dank u
Foreword - Voorwoord
Introduction
Lambic brewers and their beers - De lambikbrouwerijen en hun bieren
The Guide's use of terms - In deze Gids gehanteerde terminologie
Payottenland - Het Pajottenland
The lambic cafés of Payottenland - De lambikcafes van het Pajottenland
Lambic in Brussels and elsewhere - Lambik in Brussel en daarrond
Museums and brewery visits - Museum- en brouwerijbezoeken
Cutting lambic in other ways - Alternatieve manieren om lambik te versnijden
The definition of lambic - De wettelijke definitie van lambik
The etiquette of lambic drinking - Lambik volgens de regels der kunst
Buying beer to take home - Bier als souvenir
Order LambicLand / LambikLand
