Brewery Tour

After the EU, we meandered through Brussels and eventually arrived at the Cantillon Brewery. It is Brussels' last traditional brewery of gueuzes and lambics. These beers are fermented with natural yeasts in the air. Since these yeasts are less powerful than those used for the brewing of other beers, it requires three years to make a beer.

This is where the wort is cooled and the yeast is deposited in the beer (hence the large surface area):


Here are barrels of beer that are fermenting:


After three years, the beer is finished. However, at this point all of the carbon dioxide (fizziness) has escaped from the barrels. At this point, the brewer combines 1, 2, and 3 year old beers to create a balance of taste. The mixtures are then bottled and the younger beers continue to ferment, adding fizziness to the beers. Right before the end of the tour, we met the brewery kitty:


Here are bottled beers either finishing up their fermenting or ready for consumption!


After the tour was a tasting, which was really great. We had never had the traditional styles of gueuzes and lambics and they're completely different from the ones we had drunk (not nearly as sweet and much more complex). We really enjoyed the beers and bought three for ourselves.