Bottle
Oud Beersel Oude Kriek
Brouwerij Oud Beersel, Beersel
Lambic with 400 grams of sour cherries per litre and no added sugar.
Legend has it
Cherries have a legend of their own, sung in the old English Cherry Tree Carol. On the way to Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph pass through an orchard, and Mary, who is with child, asks Joseph to pick her some cherries. Joseph answers harshly: let the child's father pick them for you. Then the unborn child speaks, and the tree bends a branch down to Mary's hand. Joseph is left ashamed. The story is older than the carol: in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew it is a date palm that bows to Mary, on the flight into Egypt.
Beer stories travel from brewery to bar to guest, and rarely shrink on the way.
Interesting facts
- Protected
- Oude kriek and oude geuze are protected in the EU as Traditional Specialities Guaranteed, so the names require the traditional method.
- Own orchard
- In 2017 the brewery bought farmland and planted its own Schaerbeek cherry trees.
- The war years
- During the Second World War wheat was banned for brewing, so Egidius Vandervelden used sugar beet instead.
Especially good with
Coq à l'orange, or chocolate waffle.