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== History ==
The Lindemans name initially began as a wheat and barley farm that produced lambic on the side during the winters to supplement income and employ workers year-round. The first recorded brewing session under the Lindemans name took place in 1809. <ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref> By the 1930’s, the brewing aspect of the farm was so successful that the family discontinued the farming business to concentrate solely on making lambic, gueuze, and kriek. First generation brewer Frans Lindemans married into the family, who owned the land where the brewery is located.<ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref> <ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen,[[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
Frans Lindemans passed away in 1830 and was succeeded by his son Joos Frans, who was also a mayor of Vlezenbeek. Joos had a total of eleven children, but only one of whom was interested in taking over the brewery after he passed away in 1865. This son, Duc Lindemans, constructed the buildings and brewing hall which still stand on the property today. Only one of Duc’s nine children succeeded their father in the brewing business. In 1901, Theofiel Martin took over the brewing at Lindemans and started to scale back the farming activities. In 1930, Theofiel eventually passed the brewing on to one of his four children, Emiel Jozef.<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen,[[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
Emiel married in 1937 and passed away in 1956. During that time he fathered two sons, René (1939) and Nestor (1941). When Emiel passed away, both sons were too young to continue operations at the farm and brewery. All farming was again stopped and a man who studied brewing and worked at [[Brouwerij_Timmermans|Timmermans]], Triphon Antoons, helmed the Lindemans brewing operations. Up to the point that Emiel passed away, the brewery was still only producing lambic for other blenders and café owners and not bottling on their own. <ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen,[[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
By 1963, René and Nestor had finished their studies and took over operations at the brewery. René, who studied brewing, became the head brewer while his brother Nestor, who studied accounting, handled the sales and administrative aspect of the business. As café blenders began to close their doors Lindemans began to produce sweetened lambics after the 1972-73 season to supplement the income of supplying wort to independent blenders.<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 introduction of sweetened lambic to the Lindemans repetoire was also the result of not being able to source enough Schaarbeek sour cherries. According to Van den Steen, “blenders were forced to switch to the ‘northern’ sour cherries which were easier to obtain but did produce the desired results” which resulted in the lambic having to be finished off by adding fruit juice and non-fermentable sugars at bottling. The sweetened cherry lambics were so popular that other sweetened products were added to the lineup including Faro (1978), Framboise (1980), Blackcurrant (1986), and Peach (1987).<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 resulting popularity led to the first major Lindemans expansion in 1988. <ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref> <ref name=HoralLindemans>HORAL - Lindemans (Dutch), http://www.horal.be/vereniging/lindemans-vlezenbeek</ref>
Over time, Lindemans eventually abandoned the oak casks used to age lambics in favor of stainless steel tanks with wood shavings added in so that the lambic would still come in contact with wood, in accordance with Belgian law. As the brewery’s popularity continued to grow, more storage space was required. Plans to construct new buildings to house a bottling line and warehouses were completed and finally approved by 2002.<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 recent history of Lindemans reflects the revival of the lambic culture as a whole. In 1995 ,the Lindemans importer for the United States, Merchant du Vin, convinced René that enough demand existed for a traditional oude gueuze. Lindemans Oude Geuze Cuvée René was born. Over a decade later, Oude Kriek Cuvée René made its first apperance in 2006. The addition of twenty 100hl oak foudres (in compliance with European Union protections for lambic) in 2005-2006 saw the return of one of the most traditional aspects of lambic brewing and blending.<ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref> <ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen,[[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> <ref name=HoralLindemans>HORAL - Lindemans (Dutch), http://www.horal.be/vereniging/lindemans-vlezenbeek</ref>
The future for Lindemans looks strong. Since 2006, the seventh generation of Lindemans has been in charge of the brewery. René’s son Geert (1968) now runs the administrative side of the brewery while Nestor’s son Dirk (1968) runs the brewing operations after having been involved with the brewery since 1993. Sadly, Nestor Lindemans passed away in 2008. For his part, René Lindemans is still involved in the brewery. He still opens the brewery in the morning and closes it at night, but spends most of his time with the future 8th generation of the Lindemans brewing family: three grandsons born in 2001, 2002, and 2010.<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen,[[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> <ref name=HoralLindemans>HORAL - Lindemans (Dutch), http://www.horal.be/vereniging/lindemans-vlezenbeek</ref> Lindemans is a member of [[HORAL|HORAL]].
==Brewing Process==