Racked 10 liters of Girardin lambic onto 3 kg of redcurrants from my mother-in-law’s garden back in July. Bottled and carbonated a month ago. Astringent/sour taste of the redcurrant pits. Very nice, so I’m a bit proudish.
Will no doubt do this again. Maybe try some more fruits that are not so often found in sour beers (so no raspberries or sour cherries). First thing that comes to mind is blueberries. Any other suggestions? Cf the Mikkeller Spontaneous Series: Mikkeller Spontaneous Series Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Beer Street Journal
Apricot and mango are two awesome fruits for sour beers as well. Just be cautious with apricots are they have quite the high acidity and can really knock your sourness over the top if blended with an already quite sour beer.
Best when used to “kick” up the acidity in an “on the edge” sour beer.
In all honesty, in Belgium we look down upon beers with fruits like apples, pears and mangos. We associate them with the very sweet, artificially flavored fruit beers from brands like Mongozo or Floris.
Cantillon Fou’foune is made with apricots and completely contradicts what you are saying. It is awesome. Maybe it depends on the quality of the apricots? there’s a lot of bad apricots in the world. Cantillon gets their apricots from the south of France.
The Mikkeller spontaneous series is a little hit and miss, but the Spontangooseberry is incredible. That foxiness from ribes adds a nice layer to a lambic. Blackcurrant would be a nice addition. I’ve also wanted to use blackberries - their tartness and tannins would pair nicely with a sour.
And if they’re not in season and super ripe, then they aren’t worth the money anyways. Blackberries are one of those fruits I just won’t buy if it’s not in season. Peaches and strawberries are two others. Not coincidentally, these are three fruits that are usually quite disappointing when used in brewing - probably because they are pretty much flavorless unless they are at the peak of ripeness.
Another one that is fantastic in sour beer but only available spottily and for a brief window of time is Persian mulberries. They look like blackberries but the flavor is so complex. fruity, yes, but also floral, almost perfumed but in a good way. A good tannin structure as well. I imagine other mulberries might work as well. The white ones would be an interesting experiment as one could add a ton without any significant color addition.
In Belgium we can find dry white mulberries in Chinese shops. I find them basically tasteless. The dark ones taste much better, but can’t be found. I bought a small pack on amazon, and tried them in a small batch of mead. Tasty, very sweet, but (because they are dry?) quite raisin-like.
So I don’t know what fresh mulberries taste like. if I could lay my hands on some fresh dark mulberries I would certainly use them in mead. And then decide whether they fit in lambic.
These are the “proven” fruits/additions that I know of to use in a lambic: apricot, raspberry, sour cherry, blueberry, some types of grape, plum, strawberry (difficult because not much taste), redcurrant, elderflower. Probably also blackberry and gooseberry, though I haven’t tasted those.
you did originally ask for suggestions of fruit that is not usually found in sour beers. sticking to the ‘proven’ fruits essentially contradicts that desire. sometimes you have to attempt something that might not be all that good to achieve something amazing. you’ve expressed a desire to elevate your brewing to ‘world class’. it order to do that you have to not only nail the technical aspects, you also have to nail the magic. and magic doesn’t happen without risk.
RE: mulberries. Persian mulberries taste better, more complex and more amazing than any other kind I’ve tried. I’ve tasted the white and the dark tree mulberries that are common here in northern california and they are sweet and somewhat flavorful but nothing like the persians. hard to lay hands on though.
