Beer Review - Faro

Lindemanns Faro - 4.2% ABV

There is a veritable explosion of craft brewers and micro-brewers going on right now.  In spite of the crappy economy more and more people are finding that today's beers are much better and more flavorful than the mass produced swill that our fathers 'enjoyed'.  In some areas where you can't spit without hitting a brewpub, increased competition has caused some misguided brewers to go to extremes to separate themselves from the others... and the beer snob does not think that it is necessarily such a good thing. 

Blueberries should never be found in beer, hell, for that matter fruit should never be included in the brewing process.  You want a lime in your Mexican beer?  Fine, I will grant you that it certainly does not hurt the flavor on those watery brews.  I have enjoyed beers with herbs or hints of fruit or aged in whisky barrels but the really fruity beers, erk.  Ever so often I will try one of these aberrations and occasionally find them amusing, but a real beer drinker wants beer, loves beer, as beer is meant to be, not sissified up in an attempt to get wine drinkers to jump on the bandwagon.

Here is where I show you what a hippocrit is.  A Lambic type of beer brewed only in the Pajottenland region of Belgium and in Brussels. Unlike conventional ales and lagers which which use cultivated strains of brewer's yeasts, lambic beer is produced by spontaneous fermentation by exposing the mash to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are native to the Senne valley (yes my children, the river that runs through Brussels is the Senne).  While lambic itself is a type of sour wheat ale (from all of those naturally occurring yeasts and bacterias) the Lamics that you find here have had fruit extracts added.  Frambois?  Hate it.  Peche?  Hate it.  Cassis?  Hate it, too, hate them all.... except for Faro.  Traditionally, Faro is a light, low alcohol beer made from blending lambic with meertsbier (a light freshly brewed style of beer) and brown sugar.  The Faro we have now though does not add the meertsbier and is a bit stronger.

I found the Belgian Lindemans Faro to be quite light and quite refreshing.  A crystal clear pale red color with a light fruity nose, the Faro reminded me of a fine, rose' sparkling wine, but without much sparkle.  Lightly fruity and slightly sweet with a hint of cherry, it is a perfect compliment for a desert or to be enjoyed at the end of a long, hot day.  It is much better than I expected.

Brewery Lindemans

Lenniksebaan 1479

1602 Vlezenbeek
http://www.lindemans.be/start/home/en