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TexLaw said:
Oh, man, I just read this thread. I really need a beer now. Susan, it sounds like you have quite a nice bunch of beers there. I need to get to my Deep Freeze o' Beer and spend some quality time, myself.

Since I have it on the mind, and since it's a slow day at the office, let me say a little about the Belgian lambic beers that were mentioned. True lambics are brewed only around the area of (get this) Lambic, Belgium (aka Lambeek or Lombeek, depending on what you're looking at). They break many of the "beer rules," which is ironic, since they're likely the oldest style of beer still brewed in the world. Most notably, they are fermented with wild yeasts, which is just unheard of in the rest of the beer world. Any other brewer suffers great pains to choose, isolate, culture and maintain the particular yeast strain he wants. Any other brewer endures even more cleaning and sanitizing to ensure that only the chosen bugs get to enjoy that brewer's cooking. Lambic brewers put the wort (that which, once fermented, is beer) in an open fermenting vessel, open the window, and let nature take its course. They would rather burn down the brewery than clean it because, either way, the magic would be gone. For that reason, true lambics can be brewed only in that little part of the world. Folks have tried for a very long time to culture true lambic yeast, but it always mutates to something different. That mutated yeast may still make a good beer and even a similar beer, but it's never the same as the real thing.

Some lambics are served young (mostly locally) and some are blended with other lambic beer that has been aged for up to three years. Those are called gueuze (or gueze) lambics. Gueuzes have a refreshing lactic sourness, no real sweetness, no real bitterness, light body, and minimal carbonation.

Still other young lambics undergo another fermentation with fruit. Those fruit lambics are the ones many think of when they think of the style. The three traditional styles are kriek (fermented with cherries, and my favorite), frambroise (raspberries), and peche (peach). Because not all of the sugar ferments away (to make CO2 and our beloved ethanol), all three styles are more balanced than the gueuze and have strong fruit character. The krieks and frambroise also have striking red and magenta colors, respectively. More recently, brewers have produced newer styles with other fruits, such as black currants (cassis - similar to krieks) and pears (don't remember what that one was called).

On a different note, when Jimmy Buffet wrote about the "Cheeseburger in Paradise," he was thinking about and referring to the cheeseburger on french bread at a little meat & 3 joint called Rotier's on Elliston in Nashville, Tennessee, near Centennial Park. No matter what he may do with that term now, you ought to go to Rotier's sometime and have one. Yes, it is paradise.

Now that you know, enjoy.


TL



Miller Lite's good.
 
Peanut Butter Jelly with a baseball bat!!! LMAO!! The Buckwheat Boys!!!! OMG..Some people just have way too much time on their hands...
 
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