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I’ve been in Brussels for a few days and visited the Cantillon brewery where they make traditional Lambic beers. These are beers which ferment in barrels over a number of years without the addition of any yeast, beyond that which settles in the liquid during a brief moment when it is cooled in a large open pan.

Their standard product, the Geuze, is a mixture of 1, 2 and 3-year old beers, which is followed by some secondary fermentation in the bottle. To look it, it is pale and cloudy with a little fizz (which apparently comes from the 1-year-old) and not much froth. It tastes nothing like any beer I’ve drunk before: very acidic, ever-so-slightly fruity and with the hoppyness only appearing at the end of the mouth. I liked it a lot but I don’t think I’d want to drink a pint of it; despite being made from wheat, barley, hops and water this is very much into wine territory.

They also make some fruit beers where the fruit pulp is added to the beer whilst it is in the barrels (so the resulting product isn’t very sweet and the fruit is quite discreet). I tried a cherry and a grape which didn’t do much for me, although the cheery is a rather fetching red colour.

Geuze is one of my favourite beers for hot summerdays.
If you ever have the chance, try a Lindemans or Boon geuze.

As an alternative and probably easier to find outside Belgium:
Mort Subite (owned by Heineken)
Belle Vue (owned by AB Inbev)

owww. And do not forget to buy a "Kriek" for your wife. Even if she does not like beer. She will like the "Kriek"!

smisse wrote:Geuze is one of my favourite beers for hot summerdays.
If you ever have the chance, try a Lindemans or Boon geuze.

As an alternative and probably easier to find outside Belgium:
Mort Subite (owned by Heineken)
Belle Vue (owned by AB Inbev)

owww. And do not forget to buy a "Kriek" for your wife. Even if she does not like beer. She will like the "Kriek"!

The people at Cantillon seemed quite dismissive of other people’s beer; they said it wasn’t a true Lambic because of the lack of spontaneous fermentation. Do you know if that’s true? And, more importantly, does it affect the flavour?

I tried some of Cantillon’s Grand Cru Bruocsella today which is somewhat different from a Geuze as it is only made from 3-year-old beer and is therefore completely flat. It also apparently matures in the bottle and will keep for about 10 years . Oddly this reminded me a bit more of English bitter, with perhaps the hoppy-bitterness being a bit more obvious than in the geuze.

I’m not a big beer drinker, but I’m glad to have some of this in my cellar for an occasional change of pace!

Lambiek is regulated and protected by the EU. The uniqueness is that it can only be made by spontanieus fermentation and only in the area of Brussels... so that story seems a bit strange. No doubt that the smaller breweries can make better beer but this is not always the case. The big difference is between the Lambiek beers bottled in Champagne bottles vs ordinary beer bottles.

Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for these very interesting information. Did not know Geuze before. Next time in Belguim I will have to look for it.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to purchase the Lambic beer und the Geuze beer from Lindemans. If i understand correctly, Lambic is the young beer and Geuze is made of Lambic beers from different years with additional maturing. Date of expiry, even for the Lambic, was 09/2011!

Both are pretty unusual in taste for my palate. I would describe it as a blend of cidre and Pilsener beer with the focus on the former. But of course very interesting and one to accustom to. Nice experience. Thanks again for the hint.

Michael M. wrote:Last weekend I had the opportunity to purchase the Lambic beer und the Geuze beer from Lindemans. If i understand correctly, Lambic is the young beer and Geuze is made of Lambic beers from different years with additional maturing. Date of expiry, even for the Lambic, was 09/2011!

That sounds about right from what they said in the brewery...although as the Lambic keeps for so long it doesn’t necessarily have to be a young beer...

Michael M. wrote:Both are pretty unusual in taste for my palate. I would describe it as a blend of cidre and Pilsener beer with the focus on the former. But of course very interesting and one to accustom to. Nice experience. Thanks again for the hint.

Glad you liked it too!