Lindemans Framboise

Brewed By: Brouwerij Lindemans in St Pieters Leeuw-Vlezenbeek, Belgium

Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) out of variety pack from Binny's in IL; 2011

Style/ABV: Lambic - Fruit, 2.5%

I'll confess right up front that my experience with Lambics is limited to Lindemans. Lindemans is widely available and was one of the first beers that got me "into" craft beer, so it has been one I have returned to a few times. Lambic is a very unique style of beer brewed largely in Brussels and the Pajottenland region of Belgium. The beer is made using a unique brewing process called spontaneous fermentation. In this process the beer is exposed to wild yeasts and bacteria and is allowed to age for anywhere from one to three years. During the aging process the beer is exposed to open air, which is also unique to the style. Lastly, many Lambics are actually a mixture of several different Lambics, so it is a complex process and a complex beer. It's a very interesting style, and the extensive brewing process certainly explains the price. More info can be found here. 

Lindemans Framboise is a Fruit Lambic. Fruit is added to the Lambic after spontaneous fermentation, and the beer is allowed to age before being bottled. Traditionally Fruit Lambics included the addition of cherry and raspberry, but nowadays you can get peach, grape, and apple Lambics. Fruit Lambic tends to have a low ABV%, and just glancing over some nutrition info, it looks like they are relatively low in calories. While you lose some ABV, the trade-off is that you get a great tasting, super effervescent drink that could take the place of champagne, has giant fruit flavors, and won't make you fat.

The Lindemans website is awesome and has info on the brewery and the beer. They actually walk you step-by-step through the brewing process, which is really interesting and informative. The Lindemans Brewery started out as a farm in 1809 that happened to brew Lambic beer during the winter. The Lambic became increasingly popular, so in the 1930s Lindemans became a full-time brewery and shut down the farm. Today's beer, the Framboise, was released in 1980, and since then the brewery has expanded the size of their operation and released a number of additional beers.

The Lindemans website describes the Framboise as the prefect blend of the Lambic's acidity with the fruity notes of the raspberry. So that is what I will be expecting. One last note....the BJCP Style Guidelines do not make it clear whether they consider Lindemans to be a "Belgian Specialty Ale" or a "Lambic - Fruit." The issue at hand seems to be that Lindemans is overly sweet, so caveat emptor.

I always forget the cork-opener that this beer requires. On one hand I appreciate the attention to preserving the beer, on the other hand, what am I going to do when I don't have a cork-opener present? The beer pours nicely, and has a pinky-sized, purple-tinted or pink head. The head has a lot of fine bubbles, and the beer is super effervescent like champagne. When held directly up to a bright light the beer takes on a reddish-purple color, but out of the light this beer looks to be more dark purple. It honestly looks like it will stain your clothes, and the cork has a hint of purple from where it met the beer.

The aroma here is tart raspberries, hints of sour acidity (but not in a bad way), and some barnyard yeast funk. The raspberry smell is very herbal, and reminds me of raspberry tea. There are some currants in the nose as well, which is likely just the raspberry note getting frisky. The aroma really supports what you are going to taste, which is a lot of raspberries, candy notes, and a tart sourness. There is sour raspberry, which is tart enough to make me pucker my mouth, but also a lot of manifestations of sugar. I taste raspberry Jolly Ranchers. There is that currant-tea note as well. Some of the barnyard comes through, but not much and only dashes of hay or funk. The dominating character here is raspberry. There is also a slight acidity, which is pleasant. 

Rating: Above-Average
Score: 81% 

This is a light to medium-bodied beer, with medium depth and moderate complexity. The complexity is due to the subtle non-fruit Lambic notes buried behind the beer, as well as the multifaceted raspberry notes. The front end is carbonated and tart, which rolls into giant raspberry notes in the middle, and the back end finishes slightly dry and tart. At 2.5% ABV, alcohol never was an issue and it doesn't show up in the body at all. On the other hand, this beer is a sugar bomb and is super sweet: and that will slow the drinkability down.

I like this beer a lot. I think you do get a unique drinking experience here, and the raspberry flavor is really multidimensional pulling herbal qualities as well as some candy qualities. This is clearly a niche beer that you would drink in a certain situation, and not something to have daily. I could see myself pairing this with a desert or serving this to celebrate in place of champagne.

Whether or not you enjoy this beer will depend on how much you like raspberries, and what your threshold for sugary and sweet beer is. There is a good tart/sour quality that cuts through the sugar, so that helps keep this beer drinkable, but I would be lying if I said this isn't a sweet raspberry bomb. So if you do give this beer a try, make it a special occasion beer, and pair it with desert or something.

And look....there's even lacing in my glass. Nice.