I know very little about beer. In fact, it’s really not my thing. It tastes bitter, which apparently goes away after one ‘acquires a taste’ for it. I’m much more into cocktails – fun, fruity and preferably with rum. I know. It’s sacrilege.
The irony of living here in Belgium, home to hundreds of varieties of great beers, is not lost on me either. However, in my defence, I’ve drunk more beer in the few months I’ve lived in Belgium than I ever drank at home. Alright, I admit, they may have been fruity – Kriek, Framboise, Pêche, but they’re still beer, right?
Or so I thought.
I was recently given a challenge by my sister. Go out and drink a beer that I’ve never tried before. I took my challenge to heart. Not only did I drink a 100% organic & traditional Lambic beer, I visited the brewery and saw it being made!
For those who don’t know about Lambic – let me school you 😉 Cantillon Brewery is one of very few traditional breweries left in Belgium brewing Lambic beer. A process called ‘spontaneous fermentation’ is used to produce Lambic, and I’m told it is in the type of fermentation process that the real personality of a beer lies …
The tour itself is self-guided, and the owner thoughtfully provided both the French and English booklets upon hearing my accent, as there was a lot of ‘specialized vocabulary’ as he put it. The equipment and machinery dates from the 19th century, which I loved. With almost anything, if it looks old and historic, I love it. I was also lucky enough to happen upon part of the cooling process in action.
At the end of my tour, while tasting my complimentary beers – both the ‘Gueuze Lambic‘ and ‘Rosé de Gambrinus‘, I had the pleasure of speaking with the owner of the brewery. Brimming with life and information on all his beers, he humorously informed me that the syrup flavoured Krieks and Framboise I favour and had been drinking to this point were not fruit beers at all. Where is the fruit in those he asked. As he put it, if you eat cherry yoghurt which has only red food colouring in it to give you the illusion of fruit, does it really make it fruit yoghurt? Ditto for fruit beers he said … Point taken.
sucrésalédeluxe 