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Photos by Ahmed ElAmin of The Beer Idiots
Production support from Bitstream
Supported by VISITFLANDERS.
Last year, in April, I moderated a panel discussion on the eve of the Toer de Geuze.
The Lambic Roundtable was an event tailor-made for broadcasting in beer bars all over the world, and as you’ll hear from the discussion, we took questions live from bars with strong reputations for Lambic in different countries.
The Toer de Geuze began in 1997 as a cultural celebration of the tradition of spontaneously fermented Lambic beers. It’s organised by HORAL, the High Council of Artisanal Lambic Beers.
This discussion, the Lambic Roundtable, was just one part of the Toer de Geuze’s rich and diverse programme of events in 2022. The Toer De Geuze is held every two years—it didn’t take place in 2023. So this podcast is both a refresher from last year and a reminder to book in the dates for next year’s Toer: on Saturday 4 May and Sunday 5 May, 2024.
The conversation took place in the foeder room of Brouwerij Boon, home to the largest stock of Lambic on oak in the world. We sat down at an actual round table in front of an intimate live audience who also had the opportunity to follow the stream and ask questions in real time.
Sitting at the Lambic Roundtable with me were four guests:
Gert Christiaens is the Chairperson of HORAL. He is also the Owner and Blender at Oud Beersel, a HORAL member Lambic Blendery located in Beersel, Belgium.
Frank Boon is the Founder of Brouwerij Boon and one of the three founding members of HORAL. As well as being a Lambic brewer, Frank is also a Lambic scientist, contributing to several books and documentaries about Lambic.
Kloris Devillé is the Brewer and Owner of Brouwerij Den Herberg, a family brewery which produces Lambic located in Buizingen, Belgium. Den Herberg is the most recent member brewery of HORAL. Kloris is also a Production and Maintenance Manager at Timmermans, another HORAL member Lambic brewery.
Stu Stuart is the owner of a tour company called Belgian Beer Me! Tours which specialise in fun, smart, and affordable beer tours of Belgium for people from all around the world. Stu has been giving tours in Belgium since 2007, including tours centred around the Toer de Geuze, and he has built up close friendships with brewers, café owners, festival organisers, and media personalities.
During the evening’s conversation, we talked about the challenges of organising such an event after a COVID hiatus, the ways in which HORAL is changing as an organisation, how the Megablend was produced for the Toer, and why the internationalisation of Lambic is so important for its future. We also took questions from the bars and their patrons watching from around the world.
In this episode, we’ve distilled the evening’s conversation for you into five parts in one podcast.
Sit back, listen, and enjoy the Lambic Roundtable.
