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Joe Ray
Food & Travel / Words & Photos
EATING
THE
MOTHERLAND
Food writer and photographer Joe Ray's gastronomic visits in Europe - the home of his ancestors - and beyond.
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Tuesday, May 05, 2009
If your salivary glands haven’t kicked in, blow your nose
Call me a traitor, but here I go.
Though it might look like pink champagne, the apéro of the summer is a beer, and not one for the faint of heart.
Cantillon’s “Kriek 100% Lambic†is an eye-popper that will stand your taste buds happily on end.
It’s also a dive into the deep end of Belgian beer vocabulary. In short, lambics are natural fermentation beers that are aged for at least three years in oak barrels. A kriek, is a lambic (or a gueuze) made with sour cherries known as griottes.
While some companies have turned kriek into a sweet and sticky mess, those worth their salt are bracingly sour.
Cantillon’s kriek has just a hint of creamy suds on top and gets its cooked cherry color from the griottes. Poke your nose into the top of a glass and you’ll get a blast the grapefruit smell that is the hallmark of many good lambics, along with a hint of green apples. If your salivary glands haven’t kicked in by now, blow your nose.
Take a sip and you’ll get a kick of that fantastic sour and acidic grapefruit flavor.
If you can find any way to get your stomach and taste buds more ready for a meal, the comment box is one click away…
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P.S. In Paris, I found my bottle at Pommier inside the Marché Beauvau - the covered market at Marché d’Aligre in the 11th arrondissement.
Cantillon has a handy place to start your quest with a partial list of wholesalers and places to buy your bottle here.