The Cantillon brewery

Exactly half a mile from Brussels Midi station, in a not so grand part of the city, stands the Cantillon brewery.





Entrance Sign
Photo - Paul Evans



This is a family run brewery that was founded in 1900 and remains independent to this day. The equipment used, by today’s industrialised standards, is positively medieval. But it is this strict adherence to tradition and heritage that makes the place so charming, unique, and overall so impressive.

"Forget everything you know about beer."

The above quote was uttered by the brewery's greeter as we set off for our self-guided, booklet assisted, and now slightly bemused tour of the Cantillon Brewery. By the end of the tour, I understood what she meant perfectly.

The Cantillon brewery specialises in traditional Lambic beer brewing. In simple terms, Lambic beers are sour beers. The beer style has seen a worldwide rebirth in the last decade or so, and demand for Cantillon's beers currently outstrips what the brewery can produce by some margin. However, since the family are committed to brewing in a wholly traditional manner, a move to bigger, more commercial premises seems highly unlikely, and for this they should be applauded.

The tour begins by strolling through a dark, cobweb filled corridor, lined either side by thousands of bottles. At any one stage the stored bottles at the brewery can reach 80,000. Having referenced the cobwebs, I should add that spiders are much valued lodgers at the brewery, as they kill destructive insects and help maintain a healthy environmental balance.

Photo - Paul Evans

At the end of the corridor stands the mashing tun, where crushed cereal is mixed with hot water. After a significant rise in temperature and a decanting process, it eventually produces a wort. This liquid is then pumped into hop boilers on the floor above.

10,000 litres of wort and 25kg of hops are pumped into, and mixed in the boilers. This mixture then cooks for 3-4 hours and reduces to leave a liquid with a high sugar concentration, which later converts to alcohol via natural yeast fermentation. This room also contains a crushing machine, where the wheat and barley are ground down. The hot water tank is also situated here, and this feeds the mashing tun on the floor directly below.

The mashing Tun
Photo - Paul Evans

From the hop boiling room we proceeded up a rickety staircase to the granary. Here the wheat, malted barley and hops are stored. At one end of the room and in a slightly raised position is the cooling tun. It is here that a key stage of the fermentation process occurs, where a large riveted copper vessel, capable of holding 7,500 litres of wort begins to cool the liquid. This process is normally undertaken during cold weather seasons, where wild yeasts found naturally in the cooler air begin fermenting the liquid.

The granary
Photo - Paul Evans

Back down the rickety stairs where the next stop is the barrel room.  The Lambic liquid from the copper vessel is placed in oak or chestnut barrels, which are not completely sealed as the barrels often suffer eruptions of white foam through the bunghole.  This happens in the first few days after barrelling as a result of spontaneous fermentation. Once the liquid has calmed, usually after 3-4 weeks, slow fermentation begins,  and it continues for up to 3 years.
 

The barrel room

Photo - Paul Evans



Barrel explosion
Photo - Paul Evans

To make the brewery's final product - Gueze - a master brewer blends 1, 2 and 3 year old Lambics. They all combine different aspects to the final flavour of the beer, and it is the brewer’s job to taste and approve the blend.

The beer mixture is now pumped into the tun which feeds two tanks that are connected to the bottling machine. The beer experiences further fermentation in the bottle, and if you have a cellar it will improve with age.

Once the beer is bottled in champagne style vessels, it is plugged with a cork stopper and topped off with a cap. A conveyor belt (which you walk alongside) carries the bottles to the cellar for storage, where they will stay for several months.

The brewery also produces fruit Lambics in the summer months, where cherries and raspberries are mixed with 2 year old Lambics, and soaked for at least 3 months.



Bottle Storage
Photo - Paul Evans


The final part of the working brewery tour shows how the barrels are cleaned and re-used. It’s a rather violent process involving lots of steam, whilst a machine that the barrel is attached to performs a double-sided rotational movement, and steel chains are inserted inside to scrape clean the interior of the barrels.


Barrel cleaning
Photo - Paul Evans


The tour ends with a tasting of 3 of the brewery's beers:

Gueze: A blend of 1, 2 and 3 year old Lambics. It has an aroma of heather and smells very similar to an Asturian cider. It is slightly hoppy, with a bitter finish. An incredibly complex beer.

Rose de Gambrinus: This is a 2 year old raspberry Lambic. It has an oaky aroma, with hints of fresh basil and raspberries. It has a very dry, bitter finish.

Kriek: Another 2 year old Lambic in which Schaerbeek cherries have been soaked for 6 months. It has an aroma of fresh lavender, heather and parma violets. It's very floral in aroma and taste; I had a taste flashback to cherry lips. It also has the customary dry, bitter finish.

Gueze
Photo - Paul Evans

Raspberry and cherry Lambic
Photo - Paul Evans

If you're ever in Brussels I would highly recommend a visit to the Cantillon brewery. It is a fascinating tour through a working brewery, which proves that you can produce traditional, original and brilliant beers without selling out to big, bland business.

Cantillon stands fiercely tall and proud in its independence, tradition and protection of this most unique style of beer.