A trip round Lambic Land

Alrighty
So I was over in Belgium this weekend to pick up lambic for my lambic fest this Sunday. We stayed over in Lille and were up about 6:30 and headed over to Boon.
We pull up into the driveway of the brewery which is also Frank’s(Frank Boon the owner of Boon) home. He takes us through to show us the kegs we’re picking up asks if we want a small tour of the brewery. What a sight, iv never been in a lambic brewery before and just walking through the lanes of lambic barrels each of which is about 4m in diameter, frank tells us there’s over 100 around the brewery, that’s quite a personal cellar! We even go through and see one which is in the middle of being repaired, quite a job it seems to keep them all in good condition. Anyway we are in a rush and need to head off to Hanssens. A jolly farewell, id really like to come back here and spend a bit more time chatting to frank as he is one of the most passionate guys iv ever spoken too.
Hanssens seemed like an easy drive up one road and then take a right until we come to dworp, however it infact took us nearly 45 mins to travel the 12 miles or so, perhaps sign posts aren’t such an essential thing in Belgium unless your a tourist! We find the owner, John, and his numerous cats awaiting us. Straight to business we’re up into his cellar and what a sight again, rows of wooden casks all covered in cobwebs and the stinkyness of lambic and old cellar way awesome. He asks what we want and goes and gets a tap and a hammer and asks if may 2007 is ok. What a dream, im in a lambic cellar getting asked if a 2 1/2 yr old lambic is ok! It turns out to be Girardin lambic, as hanssens don’t brew themselves. We get a small taste, well it was small of the others as I sunk the glass very quickly indeed.  Next up we get some may 2008 lindemans that’s had cherries in it for about 8 months. What a colour off this, bright pink, the taste is absolutely outstanding – probably the best kriek iv ever had. Such is the technique it seems a cherry stone got caught in the end of the tap and it took about 25 mins to get the 22.5l’s! Next i wanted some jonge lambic, but we have a look and he says he’s not sure that any is ready yet but then asks me if i want some cassisframboisenlambic? A beer id never heard of, but i ask him about it and it seems its never been released anywhere in the world yet! Im all over it like flannel even though i could feel my teeth melt under its massive acidity. An awesome visit indeed, i cant wait till i come back for more!
Next up is Lindemans. I was unsure about lindemans as its one of the biggest lambic breweries but have sampled their lambic before and thought it would be a good experiment. We arrive at the brewery and are told to drive around the back, a gent waves for me to follow him with my 3 casks. I follow and ask him a few questions about different vintages and so on, all i get is a smile. This chap doesn’t speak any English. He gets a hose and attaches it to a massive metal cask that’s lying on its side, its again about 4m in diameter and there’s lots of them stacked on top of each other. He gets a plastic cup and offers me a drink, he gets one himself then starts to fill the cask. This is repeated 3 times with different lambics, one of which did come from a wooden cask. What an experience, we must have had about 2L of lambic each without ever saying a word to each other, just a smile whenever he refilled my cup. This was amazing, the beer itself was outstanding, surprisingly probably the best beer we had that day.
Having left with a smile, i attempt what iv failed at 3 times previously. To find Cantillon. This was no easy journey, it took us about an hour, including taking soo many wrong turns we found ourselves at the old Belle-vue lambic brewery! Anyway we eventually found it and find that The younger son, Jon(i think) had forgotten we were coming and didn’t have the kegs ready for us. So what a shame we had to go and get the lambic straight from the casks. We had 3 casks and 2 options, one lambic at 17months old and the other at 22months. I decided 2 of the older would be more desirable. They were both mindblowingly awesome beers, but while we were there Jon told us to go get a beer from their tasting table at the entrance to the brewery which is meant to be for tourists. I was standing there asking him what was available when he offered Faro. Something iv wanted for years, cantillon faro has got to be one of my most sought after beers ever and here i was drinking it freely for free, WIN!!! At one point the chap behind the bar had to head off and a family came by looking for some beer and being the barman i am and having had a few drinks i jumped into action and explained lambic to them and started giving them samples. My god, who knows what they thought of me, they probably didn’t even speak English!
Well after that it was the long journey home. What a trip, something id love to do again and assuming this festival goes well on Sunday, I’ll defo be doing it again next year.
Chin chin

Tom