An early trailblazer in the realm of American barrel-aged, mixed-culture beers, Lauren Woods Limbach is master blender and director of the wood cellar at New Belgium in Fort Collins, Colorado. Besides being one of the industry’s most respected experts in blending, mixed fermentation, and sensory analysis, she’s overseen the development of many of New Belgium’s most beloved beers.
When we asked Limbach to name her own top six, what we got was a super-pack of beers that represent elaborate craft, high quality, and great character, each one connected to a fondly remembered occasion—whether they occur once in a lifetime, once a year, or every Saturday in the mountains.
Oud Beersel Bzart Kriekenlambiek
(Beersel, Flemish Brabant, Belgium)
“I’m just wild about the champenoise method applied to the oude kriek style. For me, that just brings something that’s already so amazing, and the Bzart came from a 2008 World Beer Cup winner [when Oud Beersel Oude Geuze won a silver medal]. Gert Christiaens has a friend who does the champenoise method. So, they uncorked all the bottles from that 2008 vintage, then they went through and added sugar and went back through the refermentation, and then degorged. That beer, to me, is like the icing on the cake. It couldn’t get any better. And it’s just that incredible champagne-like foam and fizz that you get on top. My favorite beer will always be either Oud Beersel’s or Frank Boon’s Oude Kriek, and this takes takes an already beautiful beer and makes it even more special. Gert is always pushing—you know, Gert is almost New Belgium in a funny way because he’s so old Belgium, so traditional—but whether or not he will admit it, he’s constantly pushing the boundary while being wildly and just passionately traditional.