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HORAL, an acronym for ''Hoge Raad voor Ambachtelijke Lambikbieren'' (High Council for Traditional
Lambic Beers) is a consortium of lambic brewers and blenders that works together to promote lambic beers, brewing, and culture in Belgium. Their stated goals are "to promote the craft lambic beers and related products, paying attention to the entire process of brewing to serving lambic; denouncing irregularities concerning artisanal lambic beers and related products; take steps to protect the traditional lambic beers and related products.".<ref name = HORALAssociation> HORAL - Association, Members, and History, http://www.horal.be/vereniging (Dutch)</ref> HORAL has worked to obtain and maintain current European Protections on traditional lambic beers since the Traditionally Specialty Guaranteed label was assigned to them in 1997.<Ref name = Avermaete&Vandermosten> Tessa Avermaete and Gert Vandermosten, Traditional Belgian Beers
in a Global Market Economy, 2009 </ref>
At the [[The_Lambic_Summit_2010|The Lambic Summit]] in 2010, Jean Van Roy, Armand Debelder, and Frank Boon along with Dan Shelton of Shelton Brothers Importers came together for three-hour ticket dinner and discussion. Of the topics discussed, the work that HORAL does was brought up and addressed by Jean Van Roy. Part of what the TSG favors is the use of specific nomenclature as it pertains to labeling products. With regard to lambic, the TSG approved several terms to be protected under the lambic umbrella. Notably, along with each set of terms comes a list of rules that must be followed in order to use terms such as "Oude", "Vieux" or "Vielle" (old) on labels.
Though Cantillon is not a member of HORAL, Van Roy notes that it is "a very good idea" with good breweries as members, but that also in the association there are "some lambic breweries who don't produce traditional lambic or they produce a few; 1% or less than 1% of the global production" and that "Cantillon don't [sic] want simply to sit at the same table [as] those breweries.". This is also due to the fact that HORAL members are required to use the protected nomenclature set forth in the TSG. To this, Jean Van Roy has two main concerns. First, he notes that the food industry is too influential and the pressure to follow the large companies is too much. Secondly, he notes that his ancestors traditionally produced a beer simply called "gueuze" and wonders why he must change the name. He questions "why don't modern breweries change the name to 'modern gueuze', 'fake gueuze' or 'industrial gueuze'? It's always the tradiotonal one that has to change the name."<ref name = LambicSummit2010> Lambic Summit, part 10 (Shelton Brothers), Jean Van Roy, 2010 </ref>
==References==