To obtain it, they macerate cherries in barrels of oak where lambic is fermenting in. This lambic has then between 3 and 18 months of maturation. The average is 200g cherries per liter. A new fermentation starts in the barrel because of the sugar in the cherries.

Before, they used cherries of Schaerbeek. It is a Brussels’ village where this fruit was cultivated. Today it is still cultivated there but the cherries are also supplied in other places like Sint-Truiden, a city in Limburg well known for the culture of different fruit. Some even will buy cherries in Germany and in Denmark.

Let us notice that the kriek does not belong exclusively to the category of spontaneous fermentation beers. Currently, Belgian brewers produce kriek containing white beers or of typical red-brown beers of Western Flanders.