Beer of the Week - Mort Subite Kriek
Posted by Greg Clow in beer, beverages on May 6, 2008 at 5:35 pm
In their pure and unadulterated form, Belgian lambics are not beers to be trifled with. Brewed in open air vats where they are inoculated with wild yeasts and other wee beasties, and aged for years in wooden casks, these mutant brews develop flavours that are aggressively sour and funky, making them an acquired taste amongst even the geekiest of beer geeks.
Perhaps in attempt to temper this sourness, someone or other at some point in the past thought it might be a good idea to add some fruit to the mix. This addition can be handled a number of ways, from adding fresh fruit during fermentation, to cutting the pure lambic with fruit juice before packaging, to adding a flavoured syrup at the time of serving. Whichever method is chosen, there is an obvious effect on the flavour and sweetness of the brew, and those who find unflavoured lambics to be too sour and acidic will generally find the fruit versions more palatable.
It’s easy to see why people refer to California as “Wine Country”; with nearly 2300 wineries California commands 90 percent of US wine production. A new promotion at 
As with wine, its sibling in fermentation, there was a time when beer was commonly made, transported, stored and served in wooden casks and barrels. These containers were generally sealed with pitch or resin, making them impervious to leakage, and also preventing the beer from picking up any flavours from the wood.
Over the past couple years, there has been a sort of culinary renaissance taking place that is reaching it’s prime in today’s food scene. Beer is now being seen as equally complex and diverse as wine and is now standing in the spotlight with one Toronto restaurant leading the way. My embarrassment for being a non-drinker sitting inside a restaurant designed to share the joys of beer quickly diminished as Chef Brian Morin, owner and executive chef of 
When discussing my beer obsession with less beer savvy folks, one thing that always seems to confuse them (assuming I don’t bore them to death first) is my disappointment over the lack of American microbrews at the LCBO. Years of urban myths about Canadian beer being stronger than the stuff available south of the border and jokes about American suds being like 
The difficult part of writing about wine for me is that my partner is a beer drinker. “Sharing a bottle of wine” generally only happens if we’re having a fancy meal, which doesn’t occur often in our house, just because we’re out for dinner so much. So I have to admit that I grabbed the bottle of 
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m often pretty critical of the LCBO in this column, on my blog, and pretty much anywhere else that beer is discussed. It’s certainly not without good reason, as the beer selection on their general stock list is still lacking, especially in the area of craft brews from other provinces and the US (although things are slowly improving on that front).
Fruit wine has long been overlooked when it comes to alcoholic beverages. For most folks, wine equals grapes. The LCBO does little to rectify this situation, with only a handful of fruit wine options available on their shelves. Which is too bad, because Ontario has many great fruit wineries offering wines ranging from dry to super-sweet, made from apples, berries, currants and more.
While they’ve never had a beer available here on a year-round basis, Oregon’s 
