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’t Parlement: Halle’s great beer and whisky cafe
Halle, a historic market town 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Brussels, sits on the edge of Belgium’s Payottenland. Halle is in the Province of Flemish Brabant, and is part of Belgium’s lambic country. As such, it should be no surprise that the city has a number of great beer-focused cafes, and that lambic is…
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A day in the Payottenland and Zenne Valley with Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen has long been among the most well-respected lambic producers in Belgium. 3 Fonteinen was founded by Gaston Debelder in 1953 in Beersel, as a cafe and lambic blendery. The blendery was later taken over by Gaston’s son, Armand, and there have been a lot of changes since then. The detailed history of…
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Brouwerij Eylenbosch joins The High Council for Artisanal Lambic Beers (HORAL)
Brouwerij Eylenbosch, which had been one of Belgium’s best known lambic breweries until it no longer brewed around 1989, has been reborn. This famous old landmark is on the road from Brussels to Ninove, in Schepdaal. In 2018, Erik De Keersmaeker, the fifth-generation of the De Keersmaeker lambic brewing family, which includes De Keersmaeker and…
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Event Details for the Month of Lambic in Flemish Brabant October 2022
Once again, lambic is in the spotlight in the Province of Flemish Brabant, which is home to most of the lambic breweries and blenderies in Belgium. For the second straight year, the Tourist Office of the Province of Flemish Brabant (Vlaams-Brabant) is organizing a month of events to celebrate the beverage native to their province…
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A visit to De Brouwerij VAN ’T Pajottenland and Distillery De Cort
Belgium has a brand new lambic brewery, right in the heart of the Pajottenland (Payottenland) and Zenne valley. De Brouwerij VAN ’T Pajottenland in Pepingen has actually been producing lambic for about 18 months now, and the site recently opened to the public. There is also an existing distillery on the same site, De Cort.…
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Oud Beersel selects exclusive new U.S. importer, Winter Dog Cellars of Virginia
Oud Beersel, the venerable and highly-respected lambic blendery in Beersel, Belgium, has selected a new importer for the U.S.A., Winter Dog Cellars of Fairfax, Virginia. The deal was announced in a press release by Winter Dog Cellars on September 28, 2022. I was aware of the impending import agreement for some time, but was unable…
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A visit to De Bascule, a great Lambic and Trappist beer cafe in Pepingen, Belgium
Pepingen is a collection of villages in the heart of the Payottenland, in Belgium’s lambic country, to the south and west of Brussels. The municipality of Pepingen is comprised of the villages of Beert, Bellingen, Bogaarden, Elingen, Heikruis, and Pepingen. This area is full of beer cafes, breweries, and distilleries. These include Brouwerij Sako in…
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Cantillon Quintessence 2022
Brasserie Cantillon of Brussels continues to be the world’s most beloved lambic brewery, and for good reason. Brewer Jean Van Roy has been producing an amazing and growing array of lambic beers for quite a few years, many of which are aged with wine and/or matured in former wine barrels. The pace of the releases…
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Trappist Westvleteren adds labels to their revered beers; plus a look at the brewery and In de Vrede cafe
The beers of De Sint-Sixtus Abdij van Westvleteren, usually referred to as Trappist Westvleteren for the last couple of decades, are among the most highly coveted in the world. The Westvleteren beers-which currently number three-are Blond, 8, and 12. These are Belgian Trappist brews of a very high quality, that I am very familiar with.…
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Brussels’ BXL Beer Fest is August 27-28: 60 breweries, 400 beers!
One of Belgium’s premier festivals is just a few weeks away. After an absence of two years due to the pandemic, the BXL Beer Fest will return, with a great lineup of breweries and beers from around Belgium, and the globe. BXL’s first edition was 2017, and I attended in 2018. The venue will again…