Kriek and fruit lambic

Traditionally kriek is a fruit lambic: sour cherries that ferment along in spontaneously fermented lambic. Since 1997 the EU has protected that traditional method. Now that only applies to the names with 'oude', such as oude kriek and oude kriekenlambiek. The ordinary name 'kriek' was protected too, but according to the EU register that protection expired on 4 January 2023.

In addition there are krieks based on Flemish brown or red beer. The BJCP puts such fruited beers in a separate category for fruit beer. And for Flemish red-brown beer the European product specification explicitly allows krieks.

If you want to be sure of a traditional lambic-based kriek, check whether 'oude kriek' is on the label.

For an oude kriek, cherries, cherry juice or concentrated cherry juice have to be added to the lambic blend. Converted to cherries, that has to be 10 to 25% of the weight of the end product. The European product specification does not name a cherry variety.

The Schaarbeekse kriek is a sought-after variety, though. According to HORAL, the association of lambic producers, its flavour profile fits lambic perfectly and brewers and blenders deliberately look for it. But fruit growers prefer to plant varieties with a bigger yield, which means that, according to HORAL, there are almost no Schaarbeekse cherries left on the market. HORAL is carrying out research with partners to convince growers to cultivate the variety again.

An oude kriek can therefore also be made from other cherries, and still fully comply with the rules.

Lambic is by itself a sour, dry beer. After one to three years of spontaneous fermentation and maturation on wooden barrels, almost all sugars are fermented.

Traditional fruit lambic, such as kriek, is also dry and sour. The fruit usually goes into the barrels halfway through maturation, so that yeasts and bacteria can ferment the fruit sugars too. Fermented fruit tastes different from fresh fruit, and the fruit flavour fades over the years.

The BJCP and the Brewers Association both describe that there are modern versions that are sweetened after fermentation, with sugar or sweetener. Sweetening is not new, by the way: faro is sweetened lambic, and according to beer historian Roel Mulder, faro was usually already sweetened at the end of the 19th century; sweetening with sugar is already described in 1864.

If you are looking for the traditional, dry version, look for the word 'oude'. Oude geuze and oude kriek are protected in the EU and must, among other things, referment in the bottle.