The 7th edition of the ‘Night of Great Thirst’ (‘Nacht Van De Grote Dorst’) takes place near the church of Itterbeek in Belgium on Friday 22 April 2016.

The ‘Night of Great Thirst’ is a Belgian beer festival which seeks to promote traditional lambic and geuze beers both in the country of their production and also around the world.

Lambics are beers brewed in the Payottenland and Senne Valley (areas close to and encompassing Brussels) that are produced by the ancient process of spontaneous fermentation. That means that they are exposed to wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to that area. As a result, lambics have a dry, vinous, cidery flavour, with a sour base taste.

A geuze beer is made by blending a young lambic (usually around 1 year old) and an older lambic (anything between 2-3 years) and then bottling for a second fermentation. Because this blending delivers a more carbonated beer than a straight lambic, geuzes are sometimes referred to as ‘Brussels Champagne’.

NIGHT OF GREAT THIRST

Here are five facts about the ‘Night of Great Thirst’ (Nacht Van De Grote Dorst) that we learned by attending the 2014 edition:

1. IT STARTED AS A PROTEST TO THE GOVERNMENT

The very first ‘Night of Great Thirst’ took place ten years ago – in 2004 – in response to government threats to close several lambic breweries.

Picture the scene. The Belgian Food Safety Agency (FAVV) arrives at your century-old brewery to the sight of bacteria on the wooden beams above your open koelschip and cobwebs around the casks in which your beer is fermenting. They’re not happy. It’s unsanitary. It’s unclean. And it’s against their regulations.

The inspectors weren’t familiar with the age-old process of spontaneous fermentation. They didn’t realise that these bacterias and wild yeasts were essential to giving lambic beers their unique character and were to be nurtured rather than removed. It took a beer festival to convince them of the fanatical passion that exists for these beers and to communicate to them how traditional their production is.

This first edition in 2004 was essentially a protest meeting organised by a group of forward thinking lambic lovers concerned about the future of the tradition. They wanted to show the FAVV that the production of lambics and geuzes did not constitute a threat to public health and that it was culturally important to continue producing these types of beers.

As a result, the FAVV have now put in place separate health regulations for lambic brewers which take into consideration the special techniques used in this ancient process. The first ‘Night of Great Thirst’ festival made sure that the production of this type of beer was not only protected, but continues to be celebrated with each passing edition.

2. IT TAKES PLACE EVERY TWO YEARS IN THE PAYOTTENLAND

The ‘Night of Great Thirst’ is special because it takes place only once every two years. 2014 was the sixth edition taking place tens years on from the first festival in 2004. The seventh edition will take place in 2016 in Itterbeek.

The festival is organised by Het Geuze Genootschap (the Geuze Society), the chairman of which is Yves Panneels, one of those responsible for starting the first festival back in 2004. Together with his brother Kurt, Yves runs the famous lambic café in Eizeringen – ‘In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst’ – literally translated as ‘For Insurance against the Great Thirst’. The festival was supported initially by the Burgundian Babble Belt, an international community of Belgian beer lovers and now by a number of commercial sponsors.

Itterbeek (Dilbeek) is a village is in the heart of the Payottenland, the area to the west of Brussels. There are very good public transport connections by bus from Ternat Train Station, Brussels Midi Station, Brussels North Station and even Brussels Airport. Picking up tokens for the beers when you get there can take some time in queues. Make sure to buy enough that you don’t need to queue up again for a while.

3. YOU GET A UNIQUE GLASS 

The tasting glass which you buy at the start of the ‘Night of Great Thirst’ is the traditional lambic/geuze tumbler. The distinctive festival logo found on the front of the glass makes for a special momento.

The beer that goes into this glass can come from any of the traditional lambic brewers, all of whom had a presence at the festival in 2014, including Boon brewery, Geuzestekerij De Cam, Cantillon brewery, De Troch brewery, 3 Fonteinen brewery, Girardin brewery, Geuzestekerij Hanssens Artisanaal, HORAL, Lindemans brewery, Moriau brewery, Mort Subite brewery, Oud Beersel brewery, Gueuzerie Tilquin and Timmermans brewery.

4. IT’S GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER WITH EVERY EDITION

While the first gathering in 2004 was attended by 700 people (twice the amount expected), this year’s festival saw over 2,000 visitors – more than a quarter of whom came from outside of Belgium to share their passion for lambic and geuze and celebrate this unique style of beer.

The increasing international profile of the festival has even led to a fun request from the organisers for attendees to ‘bring your country’s flag’.

The beauty of a festival like this is that people are encouraged to share their bottles with strangers.

5. IT’S NOT JUST ALL BELGIAN BEERS

The festival organisers want not only to promote the beers produced in this traditional way in Belgium, but also those beers produced outside the country according to the process of spontaneous fermentation with a koelschip. The Geuze Society points out that these beers are not lambic beers, but that it considers them as distant cousins of the beers spontaneously fermented in the Payottenland and the Senne Valley.

Allagash Brewing Company from Portland, Maine – New England’s original Belgian-Style brewery – were in attendance for the third time to pour their spontaneously fermented beers. Allagash are respectful of the tradition of lambic brewing and have enjoyed many learning and collaborative exchanges on their trips to Belgium over the last number of years.

Allagash’s Coolship range – Resurgam, Red and Cerise –  were the first to sell out at the ‘Night of Great Thirst’.

Wooo! That went fast. Can't believe how quickly we ran out of Coolship. Now to continue trying all the great beers here.

— Allagash Brewing Co (@AllagashBrewing) April 25, 2014