Sour

Fruit Lambic

BJCP 23F

Lambic refermented on whole fruit, most traditionally sour cherries or raspberries. The fruit ferments out completely, so what remains is aroma and acidity rather than sweetness.

Vital statistics

Each bar is drawn against the full range of all 98 styles

Original gravity

1.040 - 1.060

Final gravity

1.000 - 1.010

Bitterness

0 IBU - 10 IBU

Colour

3 SRM - 7 SRM

Alcohol

5% - 7%

Colour also 6-14 EBC

What goes wrong

Adding fruit and bottling soon after. The fruit sugar restarts fermentation, and bottling before it is finished is how a kriek becomes a grenade.

Commercial examples

3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekse KriekCantillon Fou' FouneCantillon Lou Pepe FramboiseHanssens Oude KriekOude Kriek Boon

Reference examples of the style, as listed in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Availability varies by market and year.

Vital statistics as published in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Not yet checked against the published guidelines: treat these ranges as a planning aid and read the source at bjcp.org before entering a competition.

The rest of the sour family

23A

Berliner Weisse

2.8-3.8% · 3-8 IBU

23B

Flanders Red Ale

4.6-6.5% · 10-25 IBU

23C

Oud Bruin

4-8% · 20-25 IBU

23D

Lambic