Visit an Historic Lambic Brewery in Brussels
And, what, exactly, is lambic, might you be wondering, Road Trip Foodies? It’s a particular kind of beer brewing technique popular in Belgium, and that’s of course, where this brewery is located.
If you’re wandering Brussels, wander on over to the Cantillon Brewery / Museum of the Gueuze. Here you can learn not only about the brewers (the Van Roy-Cantillon family) but also the living micro-organisms which cause the spontaneous fermentation of the lambic. The Cantillon Brewery, 56 rue Gheude, Brussels, is one of the last traditional breweries (almost unchanged for a century).
Traditional lambic beer includes raw wheat (35%) and malted barley (65%) plus three-year-old dried hops, about 5 grams per liter of beer. After the brewing and filtering processes, spontaneous fermentation provides transformation of all the sugars to alcohol within three years.
If you’re in Brussels on November 7, 2009, be sure to stop by. On that day, between 6:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., the Cantillon’s master brewer will conduct a public brewing — visitors can see all steps in the traditional production of the Lambic and Gueuze. But, if you’re in Belgium on another day, just stop by during opening hours (8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday; closed Sundays and public holidays). Besides: a glass of beer is included in the entrance fee of 5 EUR.
