The Lambic Summit 2010

On June 9, 2010, Frank Boon, Jean van Roy, and Armand Debelder came together for the first time ever in a public panel to discuss lambic. The event lasted approximately 3 hours. The videos below, provided by the The Shelton Brothers, cover a majority of the event.

Part 1

Dan Shelton introduces the Lambic Summit and talks about it coming together. He provides an overview of spontaneous fermentation, the payottenland, and lambic.

Part 2

Armand discusses meeting Michael Jackson. He introduces the 1999 Drie Fonteinen / De Cam Oude Geuze blend that is served. He then introduces himself and discusses growing up in a lambic brewery. He discusses history of the brewery, his start as a blender, and the future of being involved in lambic.

Part 3

Dan Shelton introduces Frank Boon and talks about how they met, their relationship including their early disagreements, and Frank’s strong scientific study of lambic. Frank introduces the Boon brewery, discusses it’s history and brewing capacity and introduces the Boon Oude Geuze that they are currently drinking.

Part 4

Dan Shelton introduces the room to HORAL and it’s members. He discusses the difference between Geuze and Oude Geuze. He also discusses koelships and explains how Armand and similar blenders will take wort the day after the beer spends the night in a koelship and then age it in their own barrels. Shelton mentions that Armand is no longer taking lambic from Girardin.

Part 5

Jean provides a history of the Brewery Cantillon, the museum and it’s 40,000+ visitors annually, and explains what goes into creating gueuze. He explains the three things needed for quality lambic, quality ingredients, time, and patience.

Part 6

Dan discusses bottle fermentation and why brewing is done only during the colder months. Jean and Frank discuss fermentation process and the process the beer goes in between years one and three and the beer's role at various ages.

Part 7

Dan and Frank discuss the history of lambic, including Faro, the village of Lambiek, and the relationship of brewers and distillers when product restrictions were in place.

Part 8

Armand Debelder discusses how and why J&J Blauw came to be. Jean Van Roy discusses HORAL and why Cantillon is not a part of the organization.

Part 9

Frank explains the history of sweetened lambic and the sweeteners used in his product. Jean and Armand discuss the use of sweeteners used in their breweries and the movement back toward traditional products.

Part 10

The discussion continues about drinking sweetened and traditional lambic as well as the ways in which the brewers have leveraged varying business models to make money and survive when traditional products could not single-handedly pay the bills. This includes the restaurant at Drie Fonteinen, the museum at Cantillon, and sweetened beers at Boon.

Part 11

Jean discusses the Cantillon brewery from his father's time to his and what the lambic revival has enabled him to accomplish at Cantillon.

Part 12

Armand explains Schaerbeekse Cherries, where they come from and their characteristics. He discusses Drie Fonteine's Schaerbeekse Kriek, Oude Kriek, and Kriekenlambic.

Part 13

Frank discusses the raspberries used in Framboise as well as the use of young lambic to help protect the fruit flavor. Jean and Frank discuss the impacts of age on fruit lambics. Frank explains some history around the EU's Traditional Speciality Guaranteed protections of some lambics. Jean briefly discusses some of the other fruits used in Cantillon beers.

Part 14

Jean and Dan discuss Rose de Gambrinus, and the effects of age on fruit beers. Jean introduces Pinot d’Aunis and talks about the grapes that are used and the goals of the experimental batch.

Part 15

Audience Q&A. Jean and Frank answer some additional questions about schaerbeekse cherries. The panel (primarily Armand) discusses the Oude designation.

Part 16

Jean discusses the origins of Framboise. Armand introduces Malvasia Rosso.

Part 17

Frank discusses the different beers in Boon's lambic line-up. Explains the Oude designation and talks about the Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait. Based on an audience question, further discussion occurs around Boon's sweetened products.

Part 18

Jean and Dan discuss Americans that are making spontaneously fermented beers

Part 19

Jean introduces LH12 and discusses some of his creative experiments. In particular he goes into Zwanze 09 / Mamouche.

Part 20

Armand tells the story of the thermostat incident, it's impact on Drie Fonteinen, the help that he received from Frank to stay alive, the creation of Armand's Spirit, and the future of of Drie Fonteinen.