Cantillon Brewery Quintessence

We arrived at Cantillon Brewery a little after 9am on the 16th of March. With no distinctive entrance or sign, I cautiously pushed open the ancient oaken bay doors only to have the smells of malted barley and yeast come wafting into the streets behind us. We were at the right place and early, giving me plenty of time to snap a few unhindered shots of the historic Cantillon Brewery of Brussels.

Formed in 1890 by the Cantillon family (still the present day owners and workers), sits atop the same foundation it did 100 years ago. The brewery survived both World Wars only to have very little change about its brewing process. The brewery functions and operations exist today as they did when it was first built with few, to no technological innovations or advancements.

The Cantillon is the last industrial beer brewery within the city limits of Brussels (many micro breweries exist). It also is proudly the only organic brewery in Belgium. All beers are brewed from 100% raw organic materials in the same fashion and methodology since the beginning. All biproducts are recycled into the agricultural sector of Brussels as either feed for cattle or mulch for city landscaping projects.

Being a Lambic beer producer for more than the past 100 years, the Cantillon knows how to make a brewsky. Lambics are characterized as a still beer or a cereals wine. During the fermentation, the carbon dioxide escapes through the wood oak barrels and as a result does not saturate the beer, ergo no foam or bubbles when poured. All in all, the process of brewing a lambic rests somewhere right around 3 years.

Ingredients for brewing a Lambic beer:
> 35% Raw Wheat
> 65% Malted Barley
> Dried Hops [3 years old]; 5g per Liter

The Process of brewing a Lambic beer:
> Brewing from 45 to 72 degrees Celsius
> Collect wort (the sugary waters) by filtering
> Boiling and hopping in the boilers
> Cooling in the cooling tun
> Natural infection of the wort by wild fermentation (bacteria and yeast)
> Pumping wort at temperature of 18 degrees Celsius into oakwood Barrels
> Transformation of all sugars into alcohol within 3 years

The brewery was a damp dark place, that as I said, smelled strongly of...well exactly what it should smell of, beer. For myself it had the kind of exciting appeal that all new places have for little kids. I wanted to explore, touch, and ask questions about nearly everything in eye's sight.

The tour took about an hour and at the end, you got to try two of their different beers; the first was Gueze.

Lambic, which is the base for the making of Gueuze, is a spontaneous fermentation beer. All beers made with Lambic are naturally sour, but some will be more sour, more bitter or "softer" than the others.The Gueuze is the result of a well-considered blending of Lambics of different ages and with different tastes.

The main task for the brewer, however, is tasting. He will taste about ten Lambics from different barrels in order to select five or six which will be used for the Gueuze 100% Lambic presenting the typical characteristics of the beers from the Cantillon brewery.

The bottles are closed with a cork, capped with a crown-cork. They will remain horizontally in a cellar for a year on average, in order to allow the sugars to be converted into carbon dioxide (second fermentation in the bottle). The saturation of the beer is slow and natural. When the Lambic becomes sparkling, it is called Gueuze. At that moment, this crown-jewel of the Cantillon brewery will leave the cellar and find its way to the cellars of the lovers of the traditional Gueuze.

Every blending will produce a different Gueuze. Since the Cantillons work according to a natural process, it is impossible to make a standard beer.

This beer is not only unique because of its brewing process, but also because it can be conserved for a long time. When kept in a good cellar, a Cantillon Gueuze will still have an exceptional taste and flavor after 20 years.

This beer was actually very tasteful after your senses got used to the very acidic reaction. By the end of my glass I found myself wishing for more and ended up purchasing a bottle for myself.

The second of the two beers we tasted was Rosé de Gambrinus. A slightly easier to handle beer, the flavor consists of a multitude of fruits added during the brewing process that gives this beer its distinctive taste. As I said, its fruity, and just didn't fit my palate.

I met a couple while on the tour who were visiting the city from San Diego, California. They had arrived in Brussels early on in the morning and made a bee line for the brewery. Apparently, as far as beer connoisseurs go, Cantillon beer is in high demand and fetches a steep price in San Diego. The couple had come to see first hand how their beloved drink was brewed.

The tour, although not near as flashy or as advanced when compared to the Heineken Experience, did offer its audience a much more in depth and authentic look at the brewing process.

I've got my workout to complete today, but after that, I'll be popping the cork on my bottle of Cantillon.

To take a look at the pictures I took, head here.

All good; all the time,

Thomas