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== History ==
Brouwerij Girardin is a small family-owned lambic brewery in the village of Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle located approximately 11 kilometers from the Brussels city center. The brewery sits on a farm established in 1845 as part of the estate of a nobleman. It was purchased by the Franciscus-Alexius Girardin in 1882. Initially the intent of the Girardin family was to farm for subsistence with brewing being a secondary means of making ends meet. Little is known about the brewery’s history between 1882 and the time of World War I. Francicsus-Alexius was very involved with the local Catholic church, and when the occupying army advanced through Belgium his small brewery was shut down. However; he continued to be able to brew at another small brewery that was permitted to stay in operation. Brewing operations resumed on the farm after World War I. Franciscus-Alexius was also involved in local politics where he was the mayor of Sint-Ulricks-Kappelle from 1904 until 1927, tree three years before his death<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>.
One of Francicsus-Alexius’ suriving sons, Jean-Baptiste, took over the farm-brewery business around 1930. Just like today, the Girardin farm grew heir own barley and wheat on the grounds of the farm in addition to beets. Though the wheat could be used immediately, the barley had to be sent away to be malted and then returned. Jean-Baptiste also followed in his father’s footseps in becoming the mayor of the town in 1938 and remaining in office until 1958. Today, Brouwerij Girardin is well known for supplying lambic wort to many of the other well known blenders in the Pajottenland. This was also the case in the 1950’s when Girardin was turning over wort to other cafés and blenders to make gueuze<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>.
The brewery is currently under its fourth generation of ownership by the Girardin family after the sudden death of Louis Girardin in September of 2000. This generaton, Louis’ daughter Marina and two sons Jan and Paul began to join the business after finishing school. Sadly Jan Girardin, who was the delivery/supply manager for the brewery, passed away in August 2012. During the late 1980’s through to the new millenium the brewery continued to invest new equipment and training for the brothers. Between 1990 and 1993 a new brewing hall with more new-to-the-brewery equipment. Brewing has never ceased at Girardin, even during expansion and renovation, and now includes a lager-style beer called Ulricher
With the resurgence of the lambic culture in Belgium, Brouwerj Girardin has been able to get back to its rootsboth bottling and distributing their beer as well as supplying wort to other blenders. They are a main supplier of wort to blenders including [[Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen|3 Fonteinen]], [[De_Cam_Geuzestekerij|De Cam]], and [[Hanssens_Artisanaal_bvba|Hannsens]] as well as many private consumers and experimental blenders including [[Neill and Ross|Neill and Ross]] who blended Girardin lambic with blackberries to produce [[Shot in the Dark|Shot in the Dark]]. Armand Debelder of 3 Fonteinen has been quoted as referring to Girardin as the ''Chateau d’Yquem'' of lambic produces considering it to have some of the greatest “lasting properties” of lambics available for blending.<ref name=“WildBrews”>Jeff Sparrow, [[Books#Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition|Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition]], 2005</ref>. The brewery joined [[HORAL]] in 2004<ref name=“Horal Girardin”>http://www.horal.be/vereniging Horal Girardin</ref>, of which Armand is a founding member. The future seems to be bright for the brewery. A potential fifth generation, three daughters and one son all born to Paul Girardin<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>, may someday carry on the Girardin name in the lambic world.
== Beers ==