Pictures: Occupation of ‘t Parlement 2022

On Sunday 15th of May 2022 – from 10 am to 6 pm – De Lambikstoempers once again occupied ‘t Parlement … in Halle! So no Mina & Frank behind the counter, but De Lambikstoempers … with a beer list of 10 (unknown?) beers from our own region, of low and high fermentation! (No spontaneous fermentation beers for once…)

The sun was shining (28°C!), the fridges were full, our terrace too … and the meat balls & cheese plates went smoothly over the counter. In short: it was another great edition of our annual event … which will certainly be continued next year!

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Our beer card

BEERBREWERY / * BEER COMPANYBEER TYPEALC. VOL.
AvondgloedDok’s (Asse)Triple9,8%
Bobbi WhiteBobby Brewery (Haut-Ittre)Wheat beer5,5%
Den Herberg BruinDen Herberg (Buizingen)Heavy brown9,0%
Drogenbos BlondBrasserie Drogenbos (Drogenbos)Pale ale4,8%
Hallensis Esschenbeek 1874Crystalstick (Halle)Triple9,0%
Hoppy PilsBelgoo (Sint-Pieters-Leeuw)Pils5,0%
Indian SummerAngerik (Dilbeek)IPA7,4%
Nobilem RubiNobilem * (Liedekerke)Fruit beer4,5%
Nogewa4 Pajot (Vlezenbeek)Lager4,8%
Plutôt IPABrasserie Vancaillie (Enghien)IPA6,5%

Tour de Geuze 2022 on 30/04 and 01/05

Toer de Geuze 2022

On Saturday 30th of April and Sunday 1st of May 2022, the Pajottenland will experience its heyday again, when the – now 13th! – Tour the Gueuze takes place!

  • Saturday 30th of April 2022 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
  • Sunday 1st of May 2022 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission is FREE everywhere and reservations are not necessary. You can do the Toer de Geuze with your own transport (car, bicycle…), or you can reserve a place on one of the official HORAL buses, which traditionally accompany the Lambikstoempers. (A bus ticket costs 19.50 euros/person.)

The participating breweries and blenderies:

  • Boon: Fonteinstraat 65, 1502 Lembeek
  • De Cam: Dorpsstraat 67, 1755 Gooik
  • De Troch: Langestraat 20, 1741 Wambeek
  • Den Herberg: Oct. de Kerchove d’Exaerdestraat 16, 1501 Buizingen
  • Hanssens (*): Vroenenbosstraat 15/1, 1653 Dworp
  • Lambiek Fabriek: Eugene Ghijsstraat 71, 1600 Sint-Pieters-Leeuw
  • Lindemans: Lennikse Baan 1479, 1602 Vlezenbeek
  • Mort Subite (*): Lierput 1, 1730 Asse
  • Oud Beersel: Laarheidestraat 230, 1650 Beersel
  • Tilquin: Chaussée Maïeur Habils 110, 1430 Bierk (Rebecq)
  • Timmermans: Kerkstraat 11, 1701 Itterbeek
  • Visitor Centre De Lambiek, Gemeenveldstraat 1, 1652 Alsemberg (Beersel).

(*) Only on Sunday 1st of May, NOT on Saturday 30th of April.

Where to do what?

BOON

  • Brewery Boon is open all weekend, on Saturday from 11 am to 9 pm and on Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm.
  • On Saturday at 11:30 am the Geuze Boon Jogging will start.
  • During the visit you can also enjoy a free tasting lambic between the oak casks. Boon’s beers as well as the Oude Geuze Megablend 2019 can be tasted at the various bars. Special bottles of gueuze from the Boon reserve will be available in the special tasting bar.
  • For those who are hungry, there is warm ham, tripe sandwiches, sandwiches with country cheese an other food.
  • In the brewery shop, all beers and beer glasses are also for sale.
  • You can park on the parking area opposite the brewery. If you travel by train, you should get off at Lembeek station. The brewery is located at the south exit of the station. 

DE CAM

  • Karel from the Old blendery De Cam welcomes you to his sanctuary, whether or not with bagpipes and/or a sandwich with homemade, freshly made pottekeis.
  • In Volkscafé De Cam you can enjoy all kinds of regional dishes and delicacies.

DE TROCH

  • At Brewery De Troch, in addition to a guided tour with tasting, you can also go for a sandwich with Wambeek country cheese or with farm ham. There is a beer shop and a beer terrace, as wel as a bouncy castle for children.
  • Food will also be served in the nearby bistro Leo & Ben’s, which will present specially prepared dishes for the Toer de Geuze with beers from De Troch.
  • Combine your visit to the brewery with the walking route Pol De Mont and / or the cycling route the Boerenkrijgroute, both with junctions at brewery De Troch.

DEN HERBERG

  • Brewery Den Herberg is organising continuously guided tours in the brewery. In addition to two food trucks on the gueuze terrace (Ferm – Den Ommegang), there is also a beer shop.
  • The film ‘Lambic: About Time and Passion’ by Dani Ruiz will be shown at regular intervals.
  • In the evening there will be musical performances in collaboration with ‘Lokale Helden’.
  • Parking is available nearby for buses, cars, motorbikes and bicycles.

HANSSENS

  • At Hanssens Blendery – ATTENTION: only open on Sunday 1st of May – all produced beers can be tasted.
  • Snails in geuze soup, homemade dried sausages and homemade  sandwiches are on the menu.

LAMBIEK FABRIEK

  • After the tour at Lambiek Fabriek you can visit the bar or the shop.
  • Jo and Jo will also provide a food stand.
  • The atmosphere is brightened by pleasant music. On Saturday evenings, the bar remains open until after 7 pm.

LINDEMANS

  • At Lindemans Brewery one can witness the last brewing weekend of the year. Peter and Filip, the brewers, are happy to welcome you in the brewing room with its copper kettles. They will tell a lot about the work of wild yeasts, their craftsmanship and the patience needed to make Oude Geuze. Together with Geert and Dirk Lindemans, the guides and experts, the focus is on the beer experience and the authentic brewing process.
  • Who knows, you might even get a taste of blending your own gueuze. Select the best lambic, each with its own character, and take home your own unique blend.
  • Magical parasols tell 1001 Lambic stories by Lindemans.
  • Lindemans will print a personalised Lindemans bicentennial card, especially for you on site.
  • The children can take part in a fruit hunt in the brewery. In this way, the smallest brewery visitors will be brewers for a day.
  • One can enjoy a refreshing lambic beer during your visit. There will be even an anniversary beer that will be presented on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the brewery.
  • At the beautiful art nouveau stand you can enjoy a gin or cocktail, based on Lindemans beers and made in style by Lindemix ambassador and mixologist Jef Berben. A dash of music and classy cabaret dancers should of course not be missed.
  • When you are hungry, you can enjoy a richly filled plate of regional delicacies, a sensational burger, a Lindemans croquette or a delicious local ice cream.

MORT SUBITE

  • At Brewery Mort Subite – ATTENTION: only open on Sunday 1st of May – one can visit the brewery and discover the Mort Subite beers. Try the Limited Edition Oude Kriek with Schaerbeek cherries, taste different vintages Old Gueuze to fully experience the effect of aging in the bottle, or taste the Megablend. 
  • One can enjoy the necessary delicacies and there is also entertainment all day long.

OUD BEERSEL

  • Blendery Oud Beersel welcomes you in the legendary Bierhuis Oud Beersel (open from Thursday to Sunday) and in a pop-up bar at the Kriekerij. There are continuously guided tours in Dutch, French and English. Stroll through the foeder rooms and the barrel warehouse. All visitors are offered a free lambic taste during the tour.
  • When you are hungry, you can visit the Bierhuis for our delicious beer kitchen, or visit the Hoeve Cuvry stand at the Kriekerij. For the children there is a bouncy castle and a face painting booth, while the adults can enjoy a delicious glass of beer from Oud Beersel at the bar.
  • In the brewery shop you can buy a special Oude Geuze Vandervelden that will be released for the 140th anniversary of Oud Beersel, the new Oude Geuze Barrel Selection Demi-Muids as well as the Megablend 2022. There will also be a number of very exclusive bottles are available in the store.
  • Parking is provided on Hendrik Consciencestraat, the street opposite Oud Beersel. Buses can easily park on Sanatoriumstraat, which will be a one-way street especially for this purpose during Toer de Geuze.
  • In the days before Toer de Geuze it is possible for groups to visit the brewery by appointment, via VZW De Geuzen.

TILQUIN

  • Gueuzerie Tilquin will offer a free lambic tasting to every visitor who takes the guided tour. At the distillery one can buy two types of Gueuze (Oude Geuze and Geuze by the barrel), Oude Quetsche (plum lambic refermented in the bottle), Oude Mûre (blackberry lambic refermentation in the bottle), the typical Tilquin mixture of lambics and also Rullquin from the barrel. A range of experimental draft fruit beers are also on offer. Visitors can also enjoy other grape and fruit lambics by the glass.
  • For those who are hungry, there is pig on a spit from the Fisette butcher’s shop, fresh, tasty fish & chips from Bia Mara, or an artisanal burger and meatballs from Tartempion in Brussels style.
  • There is a bouncy castle for the children.
  • All Tilquin products are sold in the shop.
  • Parking is provided opposite the blendery.

TIMMERMANS

  • Brewery Timmermans dates from 1702 and is the oldest active lambic brewery in the world. During the two days of the Toer de Geuze, the brewing activities can be witnessed. The brewing will start a little later than usual, so that the visitors can observe the mashing with the “madams”, the filtration and even the cooling of the wort in the coolship.
  • During the tour one can enjoy a delicious glass of lambic straight from the foeders in the unique foeder room.
  • In addition to some performances, you can enjoy the Timmermans beers in the authentic pub inside, or at the bar outside. Don’t forget to taste our various new beers.

Visitor Centre DE LAMBIEK

  • Visitor Centre De Lambiek will kicks off the Toer de Geuze with a fun beer quiz on Friday evening.
  • On Saturday and Sunday mornings one can enjoy a tasty breakfast.
  • Are you by bike or on foot? Then discover the Toer de Geuze cycling and walking routes along various breweries.
  • Have you always dreamed of putting together your own gueuze? Then take part in the workshop “Make Your Own Blend”.
  • On Saturday evening, the center will be transformed into “Toer de Geuze Muziekcafé”. Everyone is welcome from 6 pm.
  • Do you want to experience the Toer de Geuze for a whole weekend? Then book your spot at the pop-up campsite for campers or tents.
  • Have you not been able to visit all breweries? Then come to the beer center, where you will find a wide range of gueuze and kriek from the participating breweries and distilleries. Real enthusiasts can buy a box of Trio Megablend in the beer shop.

Still have any questions and/or need additional information? Then check the Toer de Geuze 2022 page on the HORAL website.

Pictures: “To brett or not to brett” tasting

For this tasting we left the lambic beers aside for a while and concentrated on the so-called ‘wild’ beers, which have seen an enormous increase in the beer range in recent years. Beers where the brewers (usually) add wild yeasts during bottling. Beers that do not keep pace, according to the brewers. Rebellious, unruly, lively, rock ‘n’ roll, complex, with animal accents…

Our venue was Zennedal room ‘Regenboog’ in Buizingen, under the tower of the Don Bosco church, on Friday 25th of March 2022. A successful and interesting tasting? Absolute!

Blind tasting

For your information: our tastings are always ‘blind’. You know at the start which beers will be tasted, but you do not know which beer will effectively be presented to you and when. Only 3 of the 8 tasters present managed to guess the Orval correctly, the 5 others thought that the Bruxellensis was the Orval. In general, Bruxellensis was found to be more consistent and tastier. And the best beer of the evening? Everyone was quite anonymous about that: that was the Funky Brett from Brasserie Lefebvre!

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The tasted beers (in order of tasting):

1.Rebelse StropBrouwerij Roman6,9% alc. vol.
2.Wild JoBrouwerij De Koninck5,8% alc. vol.
3.Funky BrettBrasserie Lefebvre6,6% alc. vol.
4.Maredret AltusJohn Martin S.A.6,8% alc. vol.
5.Héron Brett IPALa Source Beer Co.6,5% alc. vol.
6.28 BrettBrasserie Caulier / De Proefbrouwerij7,5% alc. vol.
7.OrvalBrasserie d’Orval6,2% alc. vol.
8.BruxellensisBrasserie de la Senne6,5% alc. vol.
9.Brut NatureBrouwerij Omer Vander Ghinste7,0% alc. vol.
10.Straffe Hendrik Wild 2021Brouwerij De Halve Maan10,0% alc. vol.