Lambic-style beers can take years of aging and careful blending of multiple batches before they're ready to drink.

WSJ: The Sour and the Glory of Beer

Beatification, his so-called "sonambic" (a lambic from Sonoma County, get it?) is edgy and dry, with hints of grapefruit rind.

WSJ: The Sour and the Glory of Beer

Allagash's Resurgam, star of what they call the Coolship series of lambic-style beers, is clean and tart with an effervescent strawberry finish.

WSJ: The Sour and the Glory of Beer

When they add nothing, as lambic-makers do, the untreated wort becomes a refuge for airborne wild microflora, which now have space to grow and food that would otherwise be hogged by beer yeast to eat.

WSJ: The Sour and the Glory of Beer

And then there's lambic.

WSJ: The Sour and the Glory of Beer