Boerenerf
Website (Dutch): https://www.boerenerf.bio/
Contact: info@boerenerf.bio
Address: Sollenberg 3, 1654 Huizingen
Phone: +32 471310948
Overview
Het Boerenerf is a working organic farm and lambic blendery located in Huizingen. It is a revival of the former Eylenbosch (Huizingen) brewery (located down the street) under founder and blender Senne Eylenbosch after having started the project on his grandparents' farm in 2019. The name of the blendery is a Flemish translation of 'The Farmstead'. The farm also serves its own ice cream and grows its own fruits and grains.
History
The history of Eylenbosch in Huizingen extends to 1864 when it began as a brewery named Cammaert, which existed from 1864-1895. Cammaert's great-granddaughter Anna Maria married Martinus Josephus Eylenbosch in 1874, and he later took over brewery operations from Joannes-Baptista Wynants-Cammaert in 1895. Eylenbosch passed away in 1922, leaving the brewery to his sons Jan-Baptist and Georges, who continued managing the brewery and blending gueuze.
While gueuze and lambic were experiencing a boom in the early 20th century, by the mid 20th century much of the industry had seen a decline due to the introduction of sweetened drinks like sodas and lemonades, as well as the industrialization of lambic after World War II. By 1965, the brewery had brewed its last batch of lambic and continued to operate as liquor store for some years. Finally, in 2006-2008 the remaining brewery buildings were converted into residential lofts.
While the brewery did not survive the initial collapse of the lambic industry, the Eylenbosch family continued to operate the farm, raising livestock, growing grains and fruits, and managing a dairy on-site. Senne Eylenbosch worked at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen until 2019, and then decided to convert a part of his grandparents' farm into a ‘geuzestekerij’ (lambic blendery). He started to lay the groundwork for the revival of the Eylenbosch (Huizingen) beers, and the initial name of his one-man blendery was “Het Boerenerf Eylenbosch”. By the end of 2020, Senne Eylenbosch contacted Vincent Alluin with who he worked together in the same team at 3 Fonteinen. Vincent Alluin joined forces with Senne Eylenbosch in February 2021 when they started the commercial process to release the blendery’s first beers. In June of 2021, the blendery announced a new range of fruited lambics that marked the first release of an Eylenbosch (Huizingen) family lambic in over 50 years. The first batch of fruited lambics were sold in a pack of 6 bottles at the farm mid June 2021. The partnership with Vincent Alluin meant that the blendery rebranded its name to “Het Boerenerf” in August 2021. The company’s semi circle curved logo stands for the 4 generations of Eylenbosch brewers in Huizingen. Senne Eylenbosch is the family’s 5th lambic producing generation. Despite sharing the same name, there is no recent family history with Eylenbosch (Schepdaal) because there is a 9 generation difference. Brouwerij Eylenbosch and Het Boerenerf are two separate lambic producers. There are currently no plans to join HORAL, the consortium of lambic brewers and blenders.
Brewing and Blending Process
Het Boerenerf is a blendery and receives lambic wort from 5 different lambic brewers, being: 3 Fonteinen, De Troch, Lindemans, Den Herberg and Angerik. The first batch of lambic to go into barrels was brewed at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen on April 28 and April 29 2020. This initial brew makes up the majority of Het Boerenerf's first fruited lambic release in 2021. De Troch and Lindemans provide the blendery with lambic wort since 2021, and Den Herberg and Angerik as of 2022.
There is currently no brewing equipment. The bottling of the first two lambic batches was done manually by the blender at the farm, although an automated bottling machine will be used for the beers of the 2022-2023 season. The barrel room quickly expanded from 25 barrels in 2021 to around 80 barrels in 2022. The barrels have different sizes (between 200 and 750 liters) and originate from Burgundy and Bordeaux. Mid 2022 the total capacity was around 25,000 liters.
The first release of fruited lambic in 2021 represented some of the shortest chain lambic available with all of the brewing ingredients and fruit coming directly from Pajottenland soil, and sold solely at the blendery. The ambition is to work as organically as possible. The Easter weekend is traditionally the start of the blendery’s commercial season, and thus the release of new beers batches. The variety of the beer line-up may vary each year, depending on the fruit harvest’s quality. Het Boerenerf released its first traditional ‘oude gueuze’ in 2022, and named it ‘Gueuze Erfgoed’. It was available in 750ml and magnum (1500ml) bottles. The blender pays an appropriate tribute to his ancestors of the Eylenbosch (Huizingen) family, because of the gueuze’s name (‘Erfgoed’ means ‘Heritage’ in Flemish) and the retro label artwork, which resembles the original 1960's label. The second gueuze batch was released shortly thereafter in 2022, albeit in 375ml bottles. The second release had a distinctive green label, and the third release showcased artist illustrations of a stag beetle.
Lambic, cider, and mead are the main pillars of Het Boerenerf, because they represent the blendery’s DNA. These three ferments allow the blender to creatively produce a higher variety of limited batches. ‘Symbiose’ is one of those creative limited batches. It is a unique blend of lambic, cider and mead, since this combination was never before commercially released by a lambic producer.
The blendery intends to promote its beers mainly on the local market, although international exports expanded as of 2022 because of the blendery’s growth ambitions. One of the ambitions in the near future is to brew lambic at the farm again in order to make the revival of the family's legacy complete.
Beers
Fruit
- Kweepeerlambiek
- Kweeperlambiek met Cider
- Oude Kers
- Oude Kriek
- Oude Kriek met Cider
- Oude Schaerbeekse Kriek
- Kers
- Kriek
- Kriek - Cider
- Biet
- Cassis
- Rabarber
- Stekelbes
- Framboos
- Symbiose
Gueuze
Photos
Het Boerenerf courtyard
Installing hop poles at Het Boerenerf
Groene Belle hop bines at Het Boerenerf
2020 Schaerbeekse Cherry Harvest at Het Boerenerf
Apples fermenting at Het Boerenerf
Cherries fermenting at Het Boerenerf
Het Boerenerf’s terrace
Het Boerenerf
Het Boerenerf’s barrel room
Het Boerenerf
Senne Eylenbosch & Vincent Alluin
Shop at Het Boerenerf
