Brouwerij Timmermans

Website (Dutch, French, English): http://brtimmermans.be/fr/

Phone: +32 (0)25 69 03 57

Address: Kerkstraat 11 Dilbeek-Itterbeek, 1701

Overview

Timmermans is a lambic brewery and blender located in Itterbeek. The brewery itself dates back to to the late 17th century and currently produces a wide range of lambic including both sweetened and unsweetened varieties.

History

The brewing history of Timmermans dates back to 1692 when a couple acquired a farm next to the Church of Sint-Pieter in the town of Itterbeek west of Brussels. It was originally owned by Jan Vandermeulen and known was known as "Brouwerij De Mol" (The Mole Brewery). The Timmermans logo bears the mark of a mole today. Though it is unclear what kind of beers were being brewed there at the time (some records state that it was ‘brown beer’), the site of the brewery has remained in the same location ever since. The early iterations of Timmermans brewery had their own coolship as early as the 18th century as well has its own hop garden and area for hop drying.^[1]^[2]

The Timmermans name became associated with the brewery in 1911 when Gerard Frans Timmermans married the youngest daughter of Paul Josef Walravens, the owner of the brewery (then called Het Molleken). At the same time, Paul Walravens sold the brewery to his daughter and son-in-law for 23,672 Belgian francs. As was seemingly common in the era, Frans Timmermans also became the mayor of Itterbeek, from 1929-1955.^[1]

Frans had only one daughter, Germaine, who married Paul van Custem. After the death of Frans Timmermans in 1959, Paul passed the brewery on to his son Raoul after renaming it Brouwerij Timmermans. Several years later, Raoul’s younger brouther Jacques was brought into the business after studying brewing. Together, they created a popular draught kriek sometime between 1960 and 1963 that was sold in cafés in the area. At the time, Timmermans was also experimenting with grapes and lambic, though the project was eventually abandoned due to the fact that grapes did not provide much flavor to the lambic.^[1]

Still, Raoul and Jacques van Custem turned Timmermans into one of the largest lambic breweries in Belgium by supplying lambic to other brewers and blenders who used it for their own versions of geuze and kriek. As Timmermans expanded its footprint in brewing, they also became a distributor of sorts for a short period of time. In looking to expand the brewery even further, the brothers partnered with Rizla, a large cigarette rolling paper company in Belgium. Rizla bought 50% of the company plus one share, and thus Michel Painblanc took over the company. Raoul van Custem slowly withdrew from the brewery.^[1]

In 1993, Rizla sold its majority stake in Timmermans to John Martin NV, who still owns the brewery today. John Martin NV, had previously tried to acquire the Eylenbosch brewery and was in the market for a lambic brewery. By 1995, John Martin stopped the production of 75cl bottles and moved everything into 25cl and 33cl cans and bottles. In 2004, Jacques van Custem officially retired, leaving the brewery to be led exclusively by John Martin NV; though he still serves in an advisory role. His son Frédéric Van Cutsem is currently still active within the John Martin's group as Operations Manager.^[1]^[3] Production in 75cl bottles has since returned.

Though Timmermans has steadily produced a line of sweetened lambic, its canning program is slowly coming to an end. The brewery has recently started to return to its roots by reintroducing an oude gueuze in 2009 followed by an oude kriek in 2010 using sour cherries from Sint-Truiden under master brewer Willem van Herreweghen (previously from De Cam and Palm Breweries).^[1] The brewery also opened up a museum in 2009. Timmermans is also a member of HORAL, guaranteeing that its production methods meet the European Union standards for lambic and gueuze.^[1]^[3]