The first delivery of 15,000 kilos of Belgian cherries arrived at the Mort Subite brewery in Kobbegem (Asse) on Monday morning. The brewery expects a total of 45,000 kilos of cherries to be processed into sweet beer.
With the cherries, Mort Subite makes two types of Kriek (cherry beer): standard Kriek and Oud Kriek. Both beers are brewed from lambic beer: for standard Kriek, young lambic beer is the base, while old lambic is used for the Oud Kriek.
As always, the brewery works with Belgian cherries of the Kelleris variety, which come from Gingelom in Limburg.
The past few months have not been easy for the cherry trees, the brewery informs. “The wet winter was followed by a drought in April. That caused the blossoms to spread less pollen, which in turn reduced the bees’ ability to pollinate,” said brewer Joost van Zeeland. “As a result, we saw differences in the orchards: some trees had beautiful, full cherries, while others barely bore fruit.”
As previously reported, the price of cherries has skyrocketed across Belgium, reaching as much as €12 per kilo on the consumer market.
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Fortunately, the changeable weather of recent weeks has been positive development for Belgian cherry trees. These trees have fairly shallow roots that grow up to about half a metre below the ground. “So they depend on rain and wet topsoil to get good, full cherries,” says Van Zeeland. “Combined with the warm temperatures, the cherries have shown another nice growth spurt.”
The fermentation and brewing process will be completed in October. Afterwards, the drinks can be bottled to hit the market.
