Gueuzerie Tilquin

Website : http://www.gueuzerietilquin.be/

Phone: +32 (0) 472 91 82 91

Address: Chaussée Maieur Habils 110, 1430 Rebecq-Rognon

Overview

Founded by Pierre Tilquin in early 2009, Gueuzerie Tilquin is a blendery in Bierghes, a borough of Rebecq located approximately 30 km southwest of Brussels. Tilquin is the only lambic blendery in the mainly French-speaking, southern region of Wallonia. It opened its doors to the public in the summer of 2011.

History

Gueuzerie Tilquin is the first new lambic blendery to open its doors in nearly 15 years. After beginning to reserve lambic throughout 2009 with 222 former wine barrels at the time (400 L or about 3.4 U.S. barrels each; a size he chose as he was convinced from his time working at Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen that using smaller format would add complexity from the wood^[1]), owner Pierre Tilquin - who holds a PhD in statistics and genetics - opened his blendery to the public for the first time on the weekend of May 28, 2011, introducing two new lambic blends, Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne and Gueuze Tilquin (Draught Version).

Tilquin produces blends of 1, 2, and 3-year-old lambics with wort acquired from Boon, Lindemans, Girardin, and Cantillon for the Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L'Ancienne.^[2] He is the only blender that is allowed to purchase wort from Cantillon for his blends on a regular basis. While the first 2010-2011 labeled release of Oude Gueuze was reportedly a blend of just 1 and 2-year-old lambics, all subsequent batches have been blends of 1, 2, and 3-year-old lambics. The first known bottling of the gueuze occurred in December 2010 and was labelled as "1ier soutirage" (english: first racking). Tilquin has consistently produced lambic blends in 750 mL and 375 mL bottles for export every year since its opening.

In February 2012, Tilquin also introduced its first fruited lambic with the release of a very limited batch of Oude Quetsche Tilquin à L'Ancienne, sold in 750 mL bottles. The initial batch was limited to purchases at the brewery, but a second batch produced in January 2013 saw widespread release in Europe and North America later the same year. It was debuted to coincide with the 2013 Toer de Geuze.

In 2012, Gueuzerie Tilquin joined the High Council for Artisanal Lambic Beers (HORAL).^[3] Tilquin is the first HORAL member outside of Flanders and lies just 200 m past the language border in the French-speaking municipality of Rebecq.

In March 2015, the Belgian daily newspaper La Capitale reported that 75% of Gueuzerie Tilquin's production was reserved for export with 40% of that being sent solely to the United States.^[4] Tilquin also participated in the 10th Anniversary Toer de Geuze in 2015. The weekend also saw the release of Tilquin's second fruited lambic, Oude Mûre Tilquin à l'Ancienne, a lambic fruited with blackberries. In addition to the Toer de Geuze, Tilquin also hosted an English beer festival.

In 2017, Tilquin began to expand their capacity with several more stainless steel tanks. These tanks will be used to continue larger scale production of fruited lambics following the first experimental fruit series.

In 2019, Pierre Tilquin confirmed the capacity of the blendery was increased to 575 barrels of 400 L each, allowing him to stock approximately 2,300 hl (1,960 U.S. barrels) of lambic, resulting in the release of about 1,350 hl of beer per year. He also mentioned that in mid-January 2019, he received some new 600 L barrels, aiming to replace some of the oldest 400 L barrels at the blendery. Additionally, he also acquired some 220 L barrels to fill when there is not enough wort to complete a 400 L barrel. He also bought some 500 L barrels, with stainless steel openings on the top of the barrels, to extend his fruit experiments. ^[1].

On June 22, 2021, Tilquin announced on social medias that a small turbid mash brew kit had been received at the blendery, and was being installed to brew their very own lambic during the next brewing season. The following day, they announced that they had also acquired their own coolship. On January 27, 2022, the first 100% Tilquin lambic was brewed, mashing with 60% organic malted barley and 40% organic raw wheat. After spending the night in the coolship, the wort went into two 500 L barrels, with the aim not to replace the production of the blendery, but to experiment and eventually produce a small volume of 100% organic Tilquin gueuze. The first batch was blended on March 25th, 2025.

Beers

Gueuze

Lambic

Tilquin Assemblage de Lambic

Faro

Faro

Fruit

Experimental Fruit Series #1

Main article: Tilquin Experimental Fruit Series #1
During the 2016-17 lambic season, Gueuzerie Tilquin produced nine experimental fruited lambic batches that were released during the summer and fall of 2017 at various festivals in Europe. Called Experimental Fruit Series #1, these batches were all keggged in very small amounts and include, cassis, framboise, griotte, red currant, mirabelle plum, blueberry, wild blueberry, rhubarb, and elderberry lambics.

Experimental Fruit Series #2

Main Article: Tilquin Experimental Fruit Series #2
During the 2017-18, lambic season, Gueuzerie Tilquin produced a new series of experimental fruit lambics in the same way as the first set in the series.

Meerts Fruit Series

The Meerts series utilizes second-use fruit blended with a lower alcohol "March" beer, which is produced using traditional lambic methods. The fruit was fermented for a period of 4 months in a blend of 80% 1-year-old Meerts and 20% of a blend of different 2-year-old lambics. 1

Family Tree Project

In homage to Pierre Tilquin's ancestors, a series of special gueuze blends has been launched for each member of the family tree, with the idea to increase the portion of older lambic as bottlings get deeper into the past (regular Gueuze Tilquin à l'ancienne serving as a base). In March 2021, the project began with a special blend in honor of Pierre Tilquin's father, Jean-Paul Tilquin (1947-2010). This series of special gueuze blends first debuted at Open Beer Days in 2023, planning for about 20 different releases to come - some of them becoming permanent - and each beer will be matured for at least a year in bottles before release.

Yet to be released: