One of the lambic beer world’s premier events is the hallowed Brasserie Cantillon’s Quintessence, a gourmet beer and food pairing event first held in November 1998. Quintessence became a biennial event from the 2008 edition onwards.

Cantillon really puts on a show for Quintessence, featuring rare vintage beers, as well as more recent and interesting small batch lambic collaborations. Each brew is paired with different locally made foods: small tapas style bites.

I attended Quintessence in 2008, 2016, 2022, and 2025. I wrote about the 2022 edition in this previous article here. Note that each event is unique in its own way, and 2025 was no different, as you will read below. Also, Quintessence is now held on odd numbered years, as Cantillon’s Zwanze Day, which I wrote about in this previous article here, was moved from its previous September dates to spring 2024. Zwanze Day and Quintessence will rotate each year, with the next Zwanze Day planned for spring 2026, and Quintessence for spring 2027.

Cantillon usually invites several other breweries to participcate in Quintessence, which is a great honor. For 2025, the theme was very local: all of the invitees were from hometown Brussels. These included Brasserie de la Senne, one of Belgium’s great breweries; Nanobrasserie de L’ Ermitage, which is located walking distance to Cantillon; Brasserie de la Jungle; and Brasserie de la Mule.

Quintessence 2025 was held on April 30 and May 1, 2025. The event will likely return to a one day only format in 2027. I attended on May 1st. The 2025 event was blessed with great weather: it was sunny in Brussels the entire week of the event, and in the upper 70’s Fahrenheit (about 26 degrees Celsius) on April 30, and 80 degrees F/almost 27 degrees Celsius on May 1st.

Attendees were given wrist bands of different colors, and were allowed to stay for about three hours to enjoy their tastings. The Cantillon team knew when you entered the event due to your wrist band color. The purpose of this color coding was to reduce the number of people in the building, and to keep the space manageable. This method was first implemented for the 2018 event. For example, I had a noon entry time, so I had to depart at about 3 pm.

Each pouring station was numbered, with a different beer and food pairing.

Stand 1 featured a Cantillon Gueuze from 2011 blended with 2, 3, and 4 year old lambics, poured from magnum bottles. This is significant, as most Cantillon Gueuze blends contains 1, 2, and 3 year old lambics. The 2-3-4 year old version has more complexity, due to the use of more mature, older lambics, and fourteen years of aging in Cantillon’s Bomb Shelter Beer Cellar.

The result was delicious! This lambic had also been served at the 2022 Quintessence, albeit in 75 cl bottles, and not magnums. The pairing with the superb Brasserie Dupont cheese was sublime. The cheese was made with Cantillon Gueuze at Dupont’s cheese makery in Tourpes, in Hainaut Province. I wrote about the great Brasserie Dupont in this previous article here.

During my visit to the Bomb Shelter in 2014, brewer Jean Van Roy had this to say: “The average age of the gueuze we have here is 40 months. It is a blend of 2, 3, and 4 year old lambics. For our Classic blend, the average age is 20 to 24 months. So this Gueuze is twice as old than the Classic.”

The Bomb Shelter Beer Cellar is located beneath a park in Brussels, which I wrote about in this previous article in USA Today, and also in this previous article on this website. Note that the vintage served at Quintessence 2025 was the same 2011 vintage pictured in the photo below, from 2014.

Stand 2 featured another rare, vintage Cantillon brew: LH 12, paired with mackerel rillettes from fishmonger De Nordzee-La Mer du Nord. LH 12 is a lambic that was brewed on March 5, 2005, and bottled on April 2, 2010. Like Cantillon’s 50 Degrees North 4 Degrees East, which is one of my absolute favorite Cantillon beers, LH 12 was aged in Cognac barrels, but no additional sugar was added at bottling. The beer poured very flat, but with a noticeable Cognac character.

The mackerel rillettes were delicious! Fishmonger De Nordzee-La Mer du Nord was founded in 1958, and has been under its current ownership since 1994. It is located at Rue Saint Catherine 45 in Brussels.

Stand 3 featured two beers from Brasserie de L’Ermitage: Saison de Coupage Rhubarbe (Quintessence blend 2025) and The Grapest Hits Vol.2, pinot noir grape ale. These were paired with asparagus and rhubarb on rye bread. Once again, this was another great stop in the Quintessence experience! I really enjoyed both brews. Nanobrasserie L’ Ermitage has a retail shop directly across the street from Cantillon, and their very popular brewery is just a couple of blocks away.

In fact, as in 2022, the Nanobrasserie de L’ Ermitage brewpub location was one of the hottest spots to hit right after Quintessence. They have a solid selection of their own excellent beers, and often have a Cantillon brew on tap as well. I really enjoyed their Lanterne Extra Pale Ale, their 9th anniversary batch. At 5.5% abv, it was the perfect beer (or was it two?) to savor to start the rest of a long day of beer tasting in Brussels.

Stand 4 was Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek 2013, paired with Gare aux krieken by Chocolatier Laurent Gerbaud. These chocolates were amazing! As a Dark Chocoholic, I was immensely satisfied after tasting the superb, fruit forward Kriek, paired with chocolates from one of the world’s premier chocolatiers!

Cantillon’s regularest regular, beer lover Dave Atkins of the U.K., who spends more time at Cantillon than anyone but those who work there, had this to say: “My favourite pairing was the superb Lou Pepe Kriek 2013, still possessing the perfect combination of lambic, sour cherry & almond combination. The inspired pairing with Laurent Gerbaud chocolate filled with spent cherries used to make Cantillon Kriek made this one of the highlights for me.”

Stand 5 was in the attic, where the coolship is located. It featured three brews from Brasserie de la Senne: Bière de Coupage, Quintessence blend 2025; Wadesda #9; and Taras Boulba, one of their flagship brews, on tap. Brasserie de la Senne is one of Belgium’s premier breweries, and this was a popular stand!

The pork rillettes by cafe/restaurant Les Petits Bouchons paired beautifully with the Brasserie de la Senne Bière de Coupage. Les Petits Bouchons is located at Chaussée d’Alsemberg 832 in Uccle.

Stand number 6, also in the attic at Cantillon, showcased Cantillon Le Tourbillon 2024, paired with filet d’ Anvers (beef) made by Boucherie Vermeire. Le Tourbillon is a collaboration with Michel Couvreur: an 18-month old lambic aged on peated whisky barrels, bottled on December 17, 2024. This was yet another fine pairing. Boucherie Vermeire is located at Rue François Beeckmans 27 in Ganshoren, to the northwest of Brussels.

Dave Atkins had this to say about Le Tourbillon: “The smoke flavours do not dominate. This is a pleasant mix of lambic and spirit flavors in a full bodied balanced drink with earthy smoked bacon background taste. An excellent combination with the filet d’Anvers beef.”

Stand 7 featured another of my all-time favorite Cantillon brews: Nuit Bruxelloise 2015, a blend of 2 year old lambic made with Alicante Bouschet Teinturier grapes from winemaker Zélige-Caravent in Corconne, France. Nuit Bruxelloise is a fabulous dark wine grape lambic that is complex, fruity, and mildly funky, with a low to medium tartness. It was paired with dry-cured sausage made with Nuit Bruxelloise by Boucherie Vermeire. This was another fantastic pairing!

Stand 8 showcased another Brussels brewery: Brasserie de La Jungle. The brewery is located at 152 Rue des Goujons in Anderlecht, the same neighborhood as Cantillon. On offer was Golden Brown: Quintessence blend; Elément Sauvage; and Saison Sauvage pêche blanche, paired with Brussels Bortsch made by Marco Cervetti. I found the beers to be very fruity and enjoyable.

Stand 9 showcased yet another of my all time favorite Cantillon brews: La Vie est Belge. The excellent 2019 vintage was served, and paired with Comté cheese from La Fruitière in Brussels. La Vie est Belge (“Life if Belgian”) is a collaboration with Domaine Tissot in France. It is lambic aged in Vin Jaune barrels by winemaker Stéphane Tissot, and bottled on February 22, 2019. I wrote about this beer in detail in this previous article here.

As I suspected would happen when I first tasted the 2019 vintage just two and a half months after it was bottled, it was drinking beautifully with six years in the bottle. It is still very complex, dry, nutty, and with a low acidity, and low to medium funkiness. Only 1,000 bottles were filled of this one, and only 600 to 700 of those bottles remained at Cantillon when filled, as the rest were sent to Domaine Tissot, which is located at 39600 Montigny-les-Arsures, France. Yes, winemakers like beer too!

The Comté cheese from La Fruitière paired perfectly well with the excellent La Vie est Belge. Fromagerie La Fruitière is located just steps from the famed Moeder Lambic Fontainas beer cafe, at Rue du Marché au Charbon 99-103. La Fruitière has a very good selection of Cantillon brews, as well as other Belgian beers and wines. It is one of the premier eating and drinking establishments in the city.

Fromagerie La Fruitière owner Véronique Socié was named the Premier Fromager (Premiere Cheesemaker) in Belgium in 2016, and runs the business with her son, Léo Begin. In fact, Léo was also named Premier Fromager de Belgique (Belgium) in 2024! So this family knows cheese!

Stand 10 featured Brasserie de la Mule, from the Brussels suburb of Schaarbeek. They were pouring some very German styles brews: Schneiden Weisse: Quintessence blend, Helles, and Hefe Weisse, paired with curry würste by Boucherie Spek & Boonen x Chaff.

Stand 11 featured Cantillon Geuze Iroise, a comparison of a gueuze bottled on May 16, 2022, that was aged for two years underwater in the Mer d’ Iroise off the coast of Brittany, with gueuze from the same batch aged in the brewery. This was paired with seaweed tartare.

Stand 12 was sadly the final one at Quintessence ’25. It featured Cantillon Vin Santo 2022, a Trebbiano grape marc from Tenuta de Capezzana macerated with one and two year old lambic, bottled on February 28, 2022. This was paired with Cantucci from Boulangerie Pattisserie Callier. It was yet another delicious pairing!

Once again in 2025, there were a large number of side events going on during the week of Quintessence, as Cantillon has many friends and colleagues in Brussels eager to help celebrate the great adoration for lambic beers and beer culture that exists today. There were many International lambic beer lovers visiting Belgium that week! As well as plenty of Belgians as well, of course. Brussels and environs was really the place to be for lambic fans from the end of April through early May!

These included the great Les Brigittines restaurant; both locations of the famed Moeder Lambic beer bars: Moeder Lambic Fontainas and Moeder Lambic Original; the aforementioned La Fruitière; the fantastic Nüetnigenough restaurant, which I have been patronizing since May 2010; Les Petits Bouchons cafe/restaurant; MangiaSempre, a great Italian-inspired restaurant and gourmet shop; The Modern Alchemist cocktail and rum bar; Fernand-obb delicatessen; Gamin, a cafe/bar; Vinaigrerie Saint-Odile, a vinegar maker near the brewery; Chaff, a bistro/restaurant; Yi Chan, a Chinese restaurant and speakeasy; Manneken Pis cafe/restaurant; and Lord Byron, a wine bar.

The above is a real plethora of varied establishments, but with at least one common denominator: all serving great Cantillon beers, and even Cantillon-infused cocktails!

As they have done for every Cantillon event such as Zwanze and Quintessence, the Moeder Lambic beer bars put on a show during Quintessence week. With their huge selection of vintage Cantillon kegs and bottles, this is always a great place to savor hard to find Cantillon beers before or after an event. At Moeder Lambic Fontainas, they started things off on Wednesday, April 30th, with over a dozen Cantillon brews on draft, as well as a number from other lambic breweries. Each day through Friday, May 2, featured a new list of brews on offer. Moeder Lambic was a very popular place during those days!

I also attended the Quintessence Beer Dinner at the fantastic Les Brigittines restaurant. Owner and Master Chef Dirk Myny is one of the best in the business, and his restaurant is a must visit for lambic lovers who also happen to love great food. Myny’s dishes are masterpieces. I have dined at Les Brigittines about half a dozen times over the years, and each visit has been especially memorable. Myny and the Cantillon brewery have been great friends, and have worked together for many years.

The beer dinner, officially known as “Menu Spécial Quintessence” for Wednesday, April 30, 2025, was one of the best. It featured a set four course menu.

What a great dinner that was, with two amazing Cantillon beers! The service was outstanding, as it always has been on every visit to this wonderful, life-enhancing place.

I also had the great pleasure to visit a much newer establishment with ties to Cantillon, and delicious food, and a gourmet shop. MangiaSempre is located to the south of the city, in the Forest (Foret) neighborhood. It is accessible by tram. The address is Rue des Alliés 196. I had the pleasure of visiting with beer legends Mat Carbo and Dave Atkins.

MangiaSempre is owned by Giulia Bevilacqua, who goes by Giulia van der Waterdrinken on social media. Bevilacqua, who is Italian, has been living in Brussels for a number of years. Her significant other is Florian Van Roy, the oldest of Jean Van Roy’s two sons, who seems likely to take over as brewer when Jean retires.

The Cantillon Team, as well as all of their partners and colleagues throughout the Brussels region, really put on a show for Quintessence 2025. I highly recommend a visit for Zwanze in 2026 and Quintessence in 2027!

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