Kriek and Fruit Lambic

A kriek pours the colour of its cherries, a deep red under a thick, rocky, pink-tinged head; a framboise glows raspberry. The taste starts with the sour, funky base of a gueuze, then the fermented fruit, tart cherry or raspberry. The traditional versions finish dry and tart. The fruit colour and flavour fade as the bottle ages.

Where it comes from

Blenders and café owners in the Brussels region first added fruit to give their regulars more variety. Kriek means cherry in Flemish, framboise raspberry in French. Brewers add the fruit to the barrels about halfway through ageing, so the wild yeasts and bacteria ferment all of its sugar. Cantillon uses 200 g of sour cherries for every litre of lambic in its kriek.

Many modern fruit beers carry the same names but are sweetened. The traditional ones, often labelled oude, keep the dry, sour lambic underneath.

How to serve it

Pour it at 7–10 °C into a tulip glass. Try it with a pineapple ceviche, a fresh goat’s cheese, or a chocolate dessert.

Next to its neighbours

A fruit lambic is a Gueuze with fruit, and the wild character of the lambic must still show. A fruit beer brewed without lambic lacks that funk and sourness.

Kriek and Fruit Lambic in numbers

Classic example

Cantillon

Original gravity

1.040–1.060

Final gravity

1.000–1.010

Fruit

Traditional: sour cherries (kriek), raspberries (framboise); modern: peaches, apricots, grapes

Cantillon Kriek

Lambic with 200 g of sour cherries per litre

Food

Pineapple ceviche; chèvre; chocolate crème caramel

Classic examples

Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise; Cantillon Fou’ Foune; 3 Fonteinen Schaerbeekse Kriek; Hanssens Oude Kriek; Oude Kriek Boon

BJCP style

23F Fruit Lambic

Sources

Checked October 29, 2026.

1. 23F. Fruit Lambic, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
2. Belgian-Style Fruit Lambic — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association