The Brewery

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The Beer

Of all the Belgian fruit beers, cherry-flavoured kriek is the by far the most traditional.

Kriekenbier has all the characteristics of an old gueuze, complemented with a pleasantly fruity taste.

Brewers add krieken cherries (a type of Morello cherry) to lambic beers to improve their flavours.

The addition of fruit has the added benefit of speeding up the fermentation.

Krieken cherries, just like lambic, have a naturally sour taste. Consequently the first artisan-brewed krieken beers were also very sour, which prompted many people to melt sugar into the beer.

These beers are still often on the sour side, with a frothy head that veers between white and pale pink. They are always complex, just like a lambic.

Kriek des Jacobins is a ‘cut’ beer; in other words, a blended, mixed-fermentation beer, created from a basis of 50% uncut lambic and 50% young, top-fermented beer enriched with the natural juice of krieken cherries.

This kriek is not dissimilar to Cuvée des Jacobins, an uncut lambic that has spent 18 months maturing in oak barrels.

By the way, this foeder (a giant wooden vat) beer is the mother beer for all of the sour beers produced by Omer Vander Ghinste, including the VanderGhinste Roodbruin, Gueuze Jacobins, Kriek Max and Rosé Max.

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Alcohol

4.5% ABV

Fermentation

Lambic is a spontaneous fermentation beer. The beer turns sour slowly but surely thanks to its exposure to the air and the effect of wild yeasts.

Ingredients

Kriek des Jacobins is brewed with barley malt, wheat, hops and krieken cherry juice.

Colour & Transparency

This beer is a beautiful red colour with little to no transparency beneath a cream-coloured collar of froth.

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Serving Temperature

5–8°C / 41-47°F

Serving Glass

Kriek des Jacobins is served in the elegant branded glass on a tall stem.

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Character, Tastes & Aromas

This red-brown beer has an aroma of cherry fruits (krieken) with touches of wood. It is balanced, slightly sweet but refreshingly sour at the same time.

This is a great thirst quencher and definitely recommended for drinking on a sun-drenched terrace.

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Culinary

Kriek des Jacobins is a pleasant aperitif beer and a good companion to many dishes.

It performs well with vinaigrette salads, goat’s cheese, and blue-veined cheeses, but also with ice cream or a chocolate bake like a brownie, for example.

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Keeping and Storage

Kriek des Jacobins is based on lambic and will continue to ferment in the bottle. Its taste is likely to evolve over the years.

The recommended storage period given by the brewery is 18 months in the bottle. Store in a dry, cool and dark environment.

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Availability

Bottle ✔       On Tap ✖

Kriek des Jacobins is available in 33cl bottles and can be found around Belgium and abroad via the usual specialised channels.

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Other Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste Beers

Brasserie LeFort
The beer of Brasserie LeFort embodies the revival of a little piece of Belgian brewing history. The name is a reference to the former Kortrijk city brewery. The original LeFort brewery was located on the square (plein in Flemish) ...

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Cuvée des Jacobins
This truly is a unique beer, brewed the traditional way – and with much devotion and craftsmanship – by Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste . They are well-respected for their speciality beers, like the blond high-fermentation beer Omer ...

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VanderGhinste Roodbruin
Brewery Omer Vander Ghinste has a long tradition of beers based on both spontaneous and mixed fermentations. The very first beer launched by founder Omer Vander Ghinste, in 1892, was called ‘Ouden Tripel’ – a Zuid-Westvlaams rood ...

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Kriek Max
The Omer Vander Ghinste brewery first launched their Kriek Max in 2002, and immediately it hit the target. More than ten years on, and this sweet-and-tasty kriek still has a huge fan base. The ‘Max’ in the name refers to a brewi ...

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Tripel LeFort
The now defunct Brasserie Le Fort in Kortrijk made a name for itself with its strong beers. Tripel LeFort pays homage to that brewery that closed its doors in 1911, moving its production to the Omer Vander Ghinste brewery in nearb ...