LCBO Food & Drink Summer 2018

BEER  SWEET ON SOUR

Sour Beer Pairing

Palm Breweries Rodenbach Grand Cru

Belgium is the heartland of European sour beers, though many of the brewing techniques originated in England. From here come lambic beers, spon- taneously fermented and barrel- aged, often re-fermented with fruits. Belgium is also the home of wood-aged Flanders Red Ales and darker Oud Bruins. Ger­ many gives us light, tangy Ber- liner Weisse (often served with raspberry syrup) and Gose, fla- voured with coriander and salt. New World Sours It’s still a bit of aWildWest in North America with brewers feeling free to use all sorts of different meth- ods and equipment to create sour beers. They are all gathered under the umbrella term American Wild Ale, though they differ markedly, from bright, elegant, fruity brews to some much more extreme experiments. The Challenge Regular beer is made in a sterile environment with stable yeasts. Once you deliberately introduce bacteria and allow wild yeasts from the air or from added fruit to populate your brewery and bar- rels, anything can happen. Fermen- tation can last for weeks or even months but the results can be pro- foundly complex and satisfying. OLD WORLD sours

These Flanders red ales ( LCBO 492207, 330 mL, $3.30) spend two years ageing in huge oak casks called foeders , slowly developing fruity intensity and great complex­ ity before being blended with young beers. The result is richly textured and tangy, tasting of sour cherry, raspberry, cider apples and Riesling, with an earthy funky-barn­ yard heart—elements that resonate with the umami of anchovy and roasted olives in the Pissaladière.

Pissaladière recipe on page 158

104  FOOD & DRI NK SUMMER 2018