When brewers allow organisms other than Saccharomyces yeast to influence the taste of their ales, a new family of flavours enters the beer vocabulary. Wild Brews explores the world of Lambics, Flanders red and brown beers and American interpretations of these special beers.

Beer lovers and brewers alike will find a detailed description of the brewing methods and fermentation procedures used to craft these distinctively flavourful beers as well as information on wood-barrel aging, blending and the use of fruit in wild fermentations.

About Jeff Sparrow

Jeff Sparrow is the author of  Wild Brews: Beer Beyond the Influence of Brewers Yeast (Brewers Publications, 2005), as well as a freelance beer writer.

Sparrow began homebrewing in 1989, and won a silver medal in the American-Belgo category at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival while collaborating with Rock Bottom in Chicago, and a gold medal in the American-Belgo category in 2011 while collaborating with Haymarket Pub & Brewery in Chicago.

Jeff has served on the boards of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild and Chicago Beer Society. He organizes numerous events in Chicago, including the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer every November.

Not to be linked solely with Belgian beers, Jeff is also an accomplished cellarman, having worked since 1996 at the Real Ale Festival, and its successor, Day of the Living Ales. Jeff’s overall brewing philosophy is simple: Don’t clone a beer, create one of your own.