A recent thread reminded me of how much I love Faro. Whenever I could find it available in Belgium, I would order it. The highlight was when my buddy and I were touring the Cantillon brewery back in 1994 and found ourselves literally on the heels of a Lion's Club tour. The event was catered, so that when all the Lions had all departed, we found ourselves (two poor grad students) left with a bounty of baguette sandwiches and two half-consumed 5 l wooden barrels of Faro. Delicious stuff...and we did our best to polish off what was left. Anyone else a fan of the style (reviews here seem to indicate a lukewarm appreciation...surprise, surprise....)? Any other Faro stories/appreciation out there?
Funny, I saw your post on that thread and thought, hm, maybe there's a faro appreciation thread going on right now. Only one I've tried is the the Lindemans Faro Lambic, which I remember being underwhelming. Makes me wish I was taking notes back then! Sounds like a definite candidate for further investigation. Good story too.
Is faro even "faro" when bottled? The Lindemans version is the only readily available one I know of in the states. There is also only 15 entries under the style on BA Maybe the Drie Fonteinen Straffe Winter was accessible to some a while back?
From everything I've been told, the only way to drink Faro is on draft. They add candi sugar to a barrel of lambic, and you have to drink it quickly, too, before the sugars begin to ferment out. Anything in a bottle that says "Faro" is not the real thing, and if the style were to be judged by these versions then no wonder it's not getting any respect here. Edit: Why can't beer bars here make their own Faro by getting a barrel of Lambic and mixing in the candi sugar themselves? Maybe we're just not culturally ready for it.
Time to revive this thread. Not knowing what the heckarooney it was ( this is how i roll, im a self designated beer adventurer!) i bought a bottle of this stuff right before Christmas. So let's discuss this. According to the book I'm reading Faro is actually the second runnings of the fermentation much like an italian Valpolicella Ripasso. It is indeed typically served with a side of candy sugar to prevent further fermentation. So who here has tried this elusive beverage, any pairing suggestions?
I have had Girardin Faro and de Cam faro. The Girardin was delicious and seemed as though it was spiced! The de Cam faro wasn't really sweetened, so it seemed like a standard lambic, only much darker
I had it at Morte Subite on tap in Brussels. It was quite refreshing actually. It was definitely sweeter than standard lambic, but not overwhelmingly so. Actually, I think it's probably similar in sweetness to Cascade's Honey Ginger Lime. That one is sweetened with honey (duh) instead of sugar, but similar to Faro you can only get it on tap since the yeast would eat the sugars and create bottle bombs. Anyway, I definitely wouldn't compare bottled "Faro" to the real thing on tap. I'm not sure what they sweeten the bottles with but it's definitely doesn't taste the same. The real deal is quite good though. Good thing I live close to Cascade
Only ever had the Lindemans version but damn tasty stuff. I grow more and more tired of a lot members supposed "beer advocacy" it seems as though to them if it's not a "whale" it's not worth it and most of them shit on it anyways because of some sort of some manufactured hype it didn't live up to. I get the impression you feel the same way as me based on some of your posts. Great minds I suppose...
Reading this thread has made me quite curious to try it on tap from a pub in Belgium, because I simply did not care for the bottle of Lindeman's Faro that I tried a couple weeks ago. Personally, I really like the more sour-leaning lambic styles and gueuze like those Cantillon produces, so the sweetness of the Faro really wasn't that appealing. Perhaps it's something that needs to be sampled right out of the tap, from a local pub due to the unique way of producing the beer.
Never been to Belgium so I don't suppose I've had the real thing, although I'm very much looking forward to getting around to it. Bottle-wise I've tried the Lindemans which had this really offputting note of dog food - not good at all - and 3F Straffe Winter which was fucking fantastic but is a completely atypical example of the style what with the munich malts, fresh hops and high ABV.
I've only had a Cantillon faro once and I found it to be too sweet for my tastes. I'd guess it might vary a lot based on where and when you try it though.
Would you mind telling us what book you are reading? No offense, but what you posted seems wrong to me. Fermentations do not have "runnings," let alone "second runnings." Faro typically has candi sugar mixed into the keg or barrel before serving, it's not on the side IMHO. Are you saying some places serve Lambic with a side of candi syrup, expecting the patron to mix it in, and call it Faro? I suppose this could be, but I've never heard of it. Maybe we could all be making Faro at home by mixing some Cantillon, Hanssens, or Drie Fonteinin Gueuze or Single Barrel Lambic with some candi syrup, like the stuff sold here.
Are you reading the OCB? Reading closely that is the historic early 20th century and before, and was the second runnings from the lauter tun to make a weaker beer, 2-3%. Now the beers are 4-5%, which is regular Lambic strength. The wife had a faro at Mort Subite, where a lambic had sugar cubes muddled in it at the table. At Cantillon they had a small keg labeled faro, and we have had that at Cantillon and In't Spinnekopke.
I had the Cantillon Faro at Moeder Lambic and Tilquin Faro at the Delerium Tremens place. They were both great, but the Tilquin was the better of the two. If you're in Belgium it's a style I would search out, I was surprised how much I liked it.
3F Faro is very, very delicious as is 3F Straffe Winter which is quite similar actually to their draft faro. Cantillon faro is quite good, I like the version that is in Chez Moeder Lambic more than the one at the brewery. Tilquin is agreeable. Cantillon uses their worst lambic to make their faro since the sugar masks most taste anyway. Everything that is bottled pretty much contains a bunch of artificial sweeteners (exception is De Cam & quite possibly Straffe Winter). Lindemans is like drinking pure sugar which I do find enjoyable but it is more of a soft drink. De Cam doesn’t actually use sweeteners & ferments most of the sugar out of the beer in order to avoid explosions. Boon is disgusting & most of the others not mentioned above taste to heavily of artificial sweeteners & thus I do not find them all that exiting. It sounds like you are reading a book that describes the past. The "second run" beer is meerts & is apparently closer to pure mash in taste etc. rather than anything fermented. It is never drunk pure as far as I know & added to lambic in order to basically cheapen the costs. Historically all breweries probably did this, only Boon & Tilquin do this now a days if I am not mistaken. Faro was basically invented because lambic was the cheapest beer people would drink, those who disliked its sourness would add candy sugar to it - so int he old days, you would get sugar on the side. Don't know anyone who serves lambic like this anymore. Not sure what I would pair Faro with since its sweetness almost seems to discourage such things, drinking it along with my rabbit stew @ 3F went just fine.
The OCB = Oxford Companion to Beer. I was asking the person above if that is what she was reading. I said that was the old beer, second runnings with a lower gravity would be fermented out to a weaker beer. Lambics today are higher strength than 2-3%, no? I did see a Faro made at the table for my wife at Mort Subite. We can only figure that they had no Faro on tap so made one at the table i.e. added the sugar in front of us, grinding (muddling) it in the glass.
See, I thought I remembered one of the casks at Cantillon that day being unsweetened. Perhaps one was Faro and one an unblended, young Lambic. Was a long time ago, and -- perhaps not surprisingly -- my memory of that day is a bit fuzzy
I bought a bottle of Lindeman's faro a couple months ago, not even knowing what it was but since it was pretty inexpensive I thought I'd try it. I still have not opened it... maybe tonight's the night.
I agree – it was that I felt what was described was a thing more of the past & not much done anymore. Yes the 2-3 % lambic is probably Meerts as I mentioned which is how it is called if I am not mistaken. I think pure lambic is around 4 to 5 % although you can make it in a high variety of alcohol percentages. Boon for instance makes 10 % lambic. the Mort Subite thing is cool & neat in a way
I have only had the Lindemans, and while I thought it was pretty good, I would prefer to just have the base beer without sugar to mask it.
Candi sugar eh? That explains the sickening sweetness. Smelled somewhat funky and sour, but cloyingly sweet. To me, it takes away what I like about sours.
I tried Cantillon faro at the brewery when I visited last year. It was served from a big jug, and I enquired about it. I was told that it was made on the spot - they just dissolve candi sugar into lambic to make it (so it was uncarbonated). It confused me at the time because I was under the impression that the sugar was added and left to briefly stimulate the fermentation process again - resulting in a carbonated lambic. This is based on something I read somewhere, though I don't recall where. This thread seems to imply that faro can occur in either of these states, as I presume that the kegged faro described above is carbonated. If someone knows that this is the case please enlighten me
