Question about Lindemans Lambic Framboise

I finally had a lambic the other day at a restaurant. It was a raspberry by Lindemans Brewery. Not what I thought it would be. Very sweet. I thought lambics would be drier and more sour. They definitely must have added more sugar before bottling. The label also said they only used wild yeasts for fermentation. I thought lambics were a mix of yeast and bacterial fermentation. Anyone else have this beer, and if so, is this representative of the style? Thanks.

think when i drink the kriek lambic in europe mmn next month again metal music and beers. anyway indeed it should taste more sweet an bit sour think they got different kinds of lambic the one i drink has chery as fruit addition yeast wise dont know. i will go to a taste day at a brewery will ask what kind of yeast the do use

Lindeman’s is a nice little alcopop, but it’s not very traditional or representative of the style. It’s made in a traditional way, but then it is pasteurized, heavily sweetened, and force carbonated. Unfortunately this seems to be more and more common. But lambics were often sweetened in the glass to ones taste, like a Berliner weisse, so take it for what it is.

Lindeman’s does make a really nice gueuze in their cuvee Rene, which is not sweetened. It very much represents the style. Something to look for in a classic style is the word “oude” in the name, so oude gueuze, oude Kriek, etc. This means that it meets the traditional definition of how it was brewed and should be an indication of whether it’s representative of the style. The exception would be beers from Cantillon, which does not use the term “oude,” but they’re pretty hard to track down in the states.

They are fermented with wild microbes, both yeast and bacteria. By wild, I mean what’s in the air around the brewery, and whatever has built up in the barrels over a lifetime of use. Some of these barrels can be a hundred years old or more, so while they are exposed to ambient microbes in and around the brewery, they are heavily influenced by the microflora inside the barrels.

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Leiffmans and Hanssens are also good options. Here in a San Diego we have an awesome brewery called Pure Project and they do a really nice Flanders red sour that is aged in wine barrels called Roses Red.