Spring, in all its renewing glory, saw the beer festival scene in Belgium rub its eyes, stretch out and wake up. Leuven Innovation Beer Festival in De Hoorn was followed by one of Belgium’s biggest, the Zythos Beer Festival in the Brabanthal. There was the biannual Toer de Geuze, during which the member breweries and blenderies of HORAL, an association depleted but defiant, opened their doors to busloads of lambic enthusiasts from around the world.
During the past few months, Belgian beer enjoyed films (documentaries and elaborate promotional videos), hot air balloon flights (with beer tastings) and family collaborations (with bicycles). Here’s a round-up of what happened in Spring.
1. NEW LAMBIC DOCUMENTARY
A new film chronicling an entire year of lambic production called “Bottle Conditioned” is crowdfunding for its second phase of filming. Director and producer Jerry Franck, Producer and Main Editor Courtney Marsh, and Cinematographer Mario Contini are adopting a “fly on the wall” approach and seeking contributions to reach their crowdfunding goal of $25,000.
You can support production phase 2 of the film here:https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/bottleconditionedfilm#story
2. AN ALLIANCE OF 375 YEARS
Walloon brewery Brasserie Dubuisson and Flemish brewery Brouwerij De Brabandere celebrated their 250th and 125th anniversaries respectively by collaborating on a project they describe as “a unique exchange of brewing expertise”.
“We gathered our brewers around the table and decided to get started with each others specialty,” said Hughues Dubuisson. A batch of Petrus Quadrupel brewed at De Brabandere Brewery was transported to the Dubuisson brewery in Wallonia to age for 6 months on oak wine barrels from Burgundy. Dubuisson’s Bush Caractère was transported to Flanders for blending with De Brabandere’s foeder beer, Petrus Aged Pale. The result was two “Alliance” beers.
You can read more about the Alliance project here.
3. IN THE CLOUDS
Tielrode brewery VBDCK who produce the Kerel brand of beers announced that they now have an offical brewery hot air balloon.
A ‘Magical Balloon Flight’ with a beer tasting mid-flight—”Hot Air, Cold Beer”, they write on their website—will set you back €200.00.
More details on their site: https://www.vbdck.be/shop/experiences/id-284/balloon-flight-with-beer-tasting/
4. BEER AND FOOD MEDIA
Paul Walsh and Clifford Lucas have launched a new media company called Beer and Food Media, a creative agency which offers services in social media management and photo and video production. Disclosure: I write for the print publication arm of the business, Belgian Beer and Food magazine.
They recently completed a project with Oud Beersel, interviewing well-known beer personalities in Belgium about the growth, decline and rebirth of this lambic brand.
You can check out more work from Beer and Food Media on their site: https://www.beerandfoodmedia.com/
5. GRIMBERGEN ANNOUNCES ITS NEW BREWERY
International journalists gathered from around the world at Grimbergen Abbey near Brussels for the announcement that the monks have received the permits to build a new microbrewery inside the walls of the Abbey. The new brewery will be built in the Autumn of 2020 and will account for a small percentage of the Grimbergen beers in the market. The plans were presented by Pater Karel Stautemas (pictured above) and the other Norbertine monks of the Grimbergen Abbey, together with representatives of the Danish Carlsberg brewery.
Within Belgium, Heineken—who own the Alken-Maes group—is responsible for the production and distribution of Grimbergen beer. The Carlsberg group holds the license to brew the Grimbergen beer outside of Belgium and production is reported to take place in both Copenhagen in Denmark and in Kronenbourg in France.
“This isn’t ideal,” writes Jeff Alworth of Beervana in a recent article about the announcement. “The Trappists have worked very hard to create clarity for consumers. If a package contains the ‘authentic Trappist product’ mark, it means that cheese or beer was made on the grounds of the abbey, and overseen by monks. For well over half a century, Trappists have battled the incursion of non-monastic breweries trading on the cachet of the ‘abbey’ name. It didn’t help that monasteries like Grimbergen and Leffe helped launder monastic connections for multinationals like AB InBev and Heineken.”
Read more here:
https://www.hln.be/in-de-buurt/grimbergen/paters-krijgen-groen-licht-eind-2020-opnieuw-echt-grimbergs-bier~a5cb9609/
6. FIFTH GENERATION OMER
Brouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste of Bellegem released a new promotional video about the naming conventions of first-born sons into their five-generation-old brewing family.
More info on the video can be found here.
7. BUILDING BRIDGES
Allagash Brewing Company from Portland, Maine and Brasserie Dupont from Tourpes in Belgium released a collaboration beer which they describe as a “Blonde Ale” of 6.1% ABV called “Brewers’ Bridge”.
More details about the beer are here: https://www.brasserie-dupont.com/en/beer/brewers-bridge
8. “BEER AND BEYOND”
The Brewers of Europe Forum 2019 is entitled “Beer and Beyond” and takes place next week—on 3 & 4 June 2019—in Antwerp.
This year’s Brewers Forum is organized simultaneously with the 37th European Brewery Convention Congress (EBC), one of the most important technical brewing events in Europe. From developing globally-used methods for modern quality control procedures in beer, brewing and its raw materials, the EBC shares knowledge among the best research groups and brew masters from every corner of the world.
The Brewers Forum welcomes brew masters, brewery owners and sector executives to join in the debate and discussions about the future of beer. From opportunities for growth and shifting consumer preferences to technical excellence, the Brewers Forum and EBC set out to offer Europe’s brewing community beer-centered insight during 60 different seminars featuring 140 speakers.
Speakers include Bob Pease (CEO The Brewers Association, US), Cees ‘t Hart (CEO Carlsberg Group, Denmark), Jean-François van Boxmeer (CEO Heineken, The Netherlands), Paolo Lanzarotti (CEO Asahi Breweries Europe Group, Czech Republic), Charles Leclef (CEO Het Anker, Belgium), Josef Sigl (CEO Trumer, Austria), Tim Cooper (Coopers Brewery, Australia) and Pete Slosberg (co-founder Pete’s Wicked Ale).
You can find out more about the conference here: https://brewersforum.eu/
9. BILLIE’S NEW BOTTLESHOP
The French bulldog from Antwerp, Billie, is now not only in charge at Billie’s Bier Kafétaria in Kammenstraat and the annual Billie’s Craft Beer Fest in Waagnatie, but recently from a brand new bottle shop in the Aalmoezenierstraat. Billie’s Bottle Shop is owned and operated by Stéfan Cauwenbergs and Helena Van Geyte, partners in the Kafétaria and festival of the same name.
“We noticed in our own bar, which has been around for five years now, that we had to disappoint our customers every time they asked us where in Antwerp they could buy quality bottled beers,” says Cauwenbergs. They will host tastings and workshops with a garden at the back for growing herbs that will eventually be used for dishes in Billie’s Bier Kafétaria.
Read more here:
https://www.hln.be/in-de-buurt/antwerpen/na-cafe-en-festival-krijgt-buldog-billie-nu-ook-eigen-bottleshop~ad874099/
10. CASHMERE AND CLÉMENT
There were a raft of new beers released during the Spring, the most notable of which were Duvel’s ‘Cashmere’ and De Ryck’s ‘Clément’.
“Cashmere” is a one-time brew of 9.5% ABV as part of Duvel’s Tripel Hop range, the hop referred to by Duvel Moortgat as a “rising star”, being a cross-breed of ‘Cascade’ and ‘Northern Brewer’. Its flavours are described as fruity with “notes of citrus, peach, melon and tropical coconut”.
It has been very busy in recent months at De Ryck Brewery in Herzele. They have installed new fermentation vessels and begun work on building a new warehouse. Now, the brewers of the fifth and sixth generation—An, Bram and Miek—are releasing a new beer named after the brewer of the second generation: Clément.
Clément De Ryck was the brewer who created the brewery’s flagship, the Spécial De Ryck. Now the eighth beer in the De Ryck range, Clément is a spicy light blonde beer of 5% ABV.
Read more here: https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/blrgo_04436371
“PORTIE GEMENGD”
→ “Three Examples of Why Some Good Beers Cost More”—In response to this tweet claiming Brexit is a positive development by someone who thinks £4.95 for 37.5cl of Girardin Gueuze Black Label 1882 is expensive, Pete Brown explains why some beers are priced differently than others: https://www.petebrown.net/2019/02/23/three-examples-of-why-some-good-beers-cost-more/
→ “A Recipe for Disaster—How Lambic Continues to Redefine the Beer World”—Jonny Garrett explores how modernisation and change have effected the production of Lambic, with wonderful illustration by Charlotte Hudson: https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/blog/2019/2/15/a-recipe-for-disaster-how-lambic-continues-to-redefine-the-beer-world
→ “Panel world-beaters // Inside Emaillerie Belge, Belgium’s last enamel beer advert maker”—Eoghan Walsh writes about the last enamel advert producer in the Low Countries. Emaillerie Belge has been making ad panels for Belgian breweries for almost a century:https://www.beercity.brussels/home/2019/beer-emaillerie-belge-brussels
If you think anything else relating to the world of Belgian beer is worthy of inclusion, let us know so we can include in our next round-up.
Tot de volgende keer. À bientôt . Slán go fóill.
