At Carnivale Brettanomyces I met Petar from Terroir Blending, a small family home blendery and cidery from Bulgaria. Together with his wife Elitsa, they produce blends of lambic with local Bulgarian fruit varieties as well as naturally fermented ciders. I was really impressed by their Gamza 2022, a grape lambic with homegrown Gamza grapes macerated on 3-year-old lambic. The other three beers they were serving during Carnivale were:
- A second life, a ciderkin with locally handpicked sour cherries macerated on lambic for nine months
- Compote 2022, ‘Silistra Compote’ apricots macerated on lambic
- Samodiva 2022, handpicked mountain raspberries macerated on one-year-old lambic
After Carnivale, Petar and I stayed in touch via Instagram and I was able to ask him some questions about their project blendery.
How did you get into the wild world of lambic beers?
I lived in Belgium for 5 years, spending time in Brugge as a student and then later on in Brussels. I developed an interest in the world of lambic because of its brewing traditions and culture. Visiting several breweries and blenderies in the Pajottenland was a transformative experience. There I met with brewers and enthusiasts of all ages and ended up having amazing conversations about the cultural and historical aspects of lambic.
When did you decide to start blending your own creations? And how did this go?
After the COVID lockdowns of 2020, I decided to move back to my home country Bulgaria. It was impossible to find any traditional lambic in Sofia, the capital city, and I decided to hold tasting events where the beer crowd can get a taste of blends from several producers. In the summer of 2021, I returned to Belgium for a couple of weeks and visited Oud Beersel where I attended a “Blending Experience” event. It quickly came to my mind that no one has ever heard of traditional Bulgarian fruit varieties and I started experimenting.
Bulgaria’s landscape is characterised by mountains, plains, valleys and coastal regions. These variations in elevation (highest peak at 2,925m) and proximity to bodies of water (Danube River, Black Sea) create microclimates with distinct temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns. This fosters biodiversity and the creation of specialized fruit regions. Local fruit adapts to the conditions and develops specific traits.
That same summer, I decided to visit some of these regions in an attempt to source endemic fruit varieties from local producers because you wouldn’t normally find these in shops. Together with my wife Elitsa, we repeated this in 2022 and we have since made experiments with several fruit varieties.
You’re working with local fruit varieties. Can you tell me something about the produce you’re working with?
Yes, absolutely. Elitsa’s father is a proud local winemaker and he grows several local to the Danube Plain varieties – including the easy-going Gamza grape and three different Misket varieties. We also talked to winemakers about sourcing Mavrud, which is probably the most renowned Bulgarian red grape. Some of the smaller batches will include other fruit like apricots, figs, and foraged berries. We have some elderflower growing in our own yard so expect to sneak it in some of the blends as well.
For our natural ciders, we will keep harvesting the ugliest apples from near the countryside roads – apples that will otherwise remain to rot.
How do you get your hands on lambic in Bulgaria?
We are able to source lambic from Belgium and I personally visit the Pajottenland several times a year. Certainly will be looking into a new and stronger suitcase soon. We get about 100L of lambic per year from several producers so certainly still a small amount compared to folks I know in Belgium and the Netherlands.
What can we expect from you in the future?
At Carnivale, we were taken aback by the interest in our products, especially the Gamza grape. We will continue to focus on showcasing native grape varieties. The main reason – there are enough Riesling, Merlot, and Syrah grape lambics out there. But no one in the lambic world knows about the wonderful grapes from Bulgaria. We have several main winemaking regions – the Danube Plain, the Black Sea, the Thracian Valley, and the Struma river valley – and each of them boasts at least two grape varieties native to the region.
We will also increase making ciders and ciderkins with reused fruit, where we pick the ugliest apples from trees in the wild and friends’ orchards. There’s a good variety of apples suitable for ciders, which otherwise will just end up rotting.
Everything will remain to be made by hand and in very low quantities for the foreseeable future since both Elitsa and I combine this home project with our full-time jobs.
Where and when can we drink some of your beers again?
Feel free to get in touch with us and hopefully, we can bring more creations to a wider audience later this year and early next year. We hope to make it to next year’s Carnivale and reconnect with this wonderful community of Brett enthusiasts.
Thanks Petar for answering my questions, I hope to see you again next year at Carnivale Brettanomyces! If you want to learn more about Terroir Blending and stay up to date, follow them on Instagram.