Faro

Faro is one of the lesser-known branches on the lambic family tree, but it’s an important one nonetheless. The word “Faro” was originally used to reference a lighter version of lambic, and first appears in Brussels around the first quarter of the 18th century. By the mid-1800s, Faro was being made by blending second runnings (Meerts) and lambic to create a lower ABV product. The production of Faro has since evolved, and what we see labeled as Faro today is typically a lower ABV lambic-based beer that’s been sweetened. Because of this sugar addition, modern Faro is not a shelf stable product and is only bottled using artificial sweeteners or pasteurization. If served out of a cask in a bar or taproom, it is frequently dosed with Belgian candi sugar and served before refermentation can occur.

Our own wort production, fermentation, and blending is guided by the lambic brewing tradition, so it’s that history that we typically look to and draw inspiration from when making new beers. With a maturing stock of Meerts and spontaneously fermented barrels, we see blending the two as a logical progression and one we’re in a unique position to pursue. Our take on Faro is primarily inspired by the older 1800's methodology and brings together Meerts and 2 and 3 year-old Méthode Traditionnelle (M.T.) barrels in a 50/50 proportion. Although the selected M.T. barrels exhibit sweet oak and apple cider characteristics, there is no added artificial sweetener or unfermented sugar in this beer. As a nod to contemporary Faro production, we used amber Belgian candi syrup to bottle condition, but this sugar has been allowed to fully referment in the bottle to produce carbonation, a hint of color, and subtle dried fruit and caramelized flavors.

ABV: 5.0%
Yield: 772 750mL bottles, 14 kegs

Honey Conditioned Meerts

After three months of fermentation in our 40hL French oak foeders, we conditioned our base Meerts in the bottle with apple blossom honey from Staude’s Apple Blossom Acres in Watertown, WI, which contributes subtle floral and fruity characteristics to the beer.


Note: More will be coming in November.

Yield: 168 bottles, 1 keg

Plum Meerts

After three months of fermentation in our 40hL French oak foeders, we refermented Meerts on over 2 lbs/gal of purple and red plums for an additional six weeks prior to packaging.

Yield: 574 bottles, 6 kegs

Meerts

Meerts is a nearly forgotten style underneath the lambic umbrella category.  Meerts, meaning March, is the low alcohol (2-4%) "table" or "field" beer traditionally made from the second runnings of lambic's turbid mash. I refer to it as Lambic's baby brother. Recently it has been resurrected in Belgium by Boon (who supplies Tilquin's) and Cantillon, though there is very little information as to how exactly these breweries are producing their Meerts today.

Instead of trying to write a detailed description of Meerts production, I'm going to direct you to read Hors Catégorie's write up.  As far as I've found, it is the most complete description of Meerts and was the primary resource I used in trying to recreate this beer.

In this article, the 1800's brewery's poor efficiency rate is mentioned, which was echoed in other conversations I had. I was told that modern brew systems/grain are too efficient to create Meerts from lambic second runnings and that the brewers making it today have a dedicated brew day (again, I don't know the details of Boon and Cantillon's Meerts production).  Last year I tested this out, and on a 50 bbl brew house, I hoped to get 20-30 bbls of second runnings to create a Meerts the old way. About 4 bbls into the second runnings, our pH jumped and gravity dropped to near zero.  We were pulling water at this point and I called it off.

Still fascinated by what this style of beer could look like, this year we dedicated a brew day to Meerts, and in February filled 2 foeders. I believe we are the first to make Meerts in the US. To make it, we essentially took our turbid mash recipe and scaled it down to target 4%, and slashed the amount of hops since Meerts traditionally received the post boil spent hops from lambic.

Sample of Meerts from the foeder.

And wow am I happy with this beer!  At 4% abv, it is refreshing and clean, lightly tart lemon citrus with some rustic earthiness.  I'm very excited to have a beer that I can put out at a lower price point and with more frequency.  Cheers!