In order to continue blending lambics, Frank Boon also became a beer distributor for local brands. By 1981, Boon purchased a bankrupted factory in the center of Lembeek and moved the distributorship onto the site leaving more room for the blending business at the Hondzocht location. By 1986, the site in the center of Lembeek had become home to an automatic bottling plant, a boiling kettle, and a bottle cellar.
[[File:BrouwerijBoon-2.jpeg|left|thumb|Sign to Boon]]
In 1988, Frank Boon purchased a mash tun and kettle from the Rubbens brewery and a second kettle from the Lemaire brewery, thus completing the original Boon brewhouse. The new brewing setup initially acted as a pilot brewery for Brouwerij De Gouden Boom (owned by Frank Boon and Paul Vanneste since 1983) However, to avoid excise tax issues, the first batch of Boon lambic was brewed in fall 1990.<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=HoralBoon> Horal - Boon (Dutch), http://www.horal.be/vereniging/boon-lembeek</ref>
To that end, Frank Boon has acquired the name rights to many old lambic breweries and blenders including Moriau, Dekoninck, and Vandervelden<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> and continues to produce beer under the Moriau and Dekoninck names. In 2011, Boon brought an entirely new brewhouse online with tanks designed specifically for lambic. <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>
[[File:BrouwerijBoon-1.jpg|thumb|right|Boon's brewhouse]]
The importance of Brouwerij Boon and Frank Boon in the lambic community in Belgium cannot be understated. The size Boon’s infrastructure means that Frank has been able to help smaller lambic brewers and blenders in many ways. Boon sources approximately 180,000 to 190,000 kilograms of cherries per year from Galicia, a region that spans the border between Poland and Ukraine. Some of these cherries go to other brewers and blenders including 3 Fonteinen. Boon also sources approximately 28,000 kilograms of raspberries from the same area.<ref name=Summit12>Frank Boon, 2010, [[The_Lambic_Summit_2010#Part_12|The Lambic Summit, Part 12 (Shelton Brothers)]]</ref> In addition to providing other lambic brewers and blenders with fruit, Boon has also bottled for 3 Fonteinen, Oud Beersel, and Mort Subite. <ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> Boon lambic is also a principle component in many gueuze blends.
Frank Boon has also been instrumental in keeping the Oud Beersel brewery alive. Boon had previously supplied the brewery with malt and hops. In 1996 the bottling line (still in use from 1938) at the Oud Beersel failed and Boon began bottling for them. Starting in 1997, Boon supplied cherries to Oud Beersel for the kriek, and in 2002 when the Oud Beersel closed, Boon bought the remaining stock and sold it under the Oud Beersel name. By 2005 Oud Beersel had reopened with lambic brewed at Boon with an old Vandervelden recipe. [[File:BrouwerijBoon-3.jpg|left|thumb|Boon crates]] Today, Oud Beersel lambic is still brewed at Boon, barreled at Oud Beersel, and blended with other lambics including Boon.<ref name=BoonOudBeersel>Frank Boon, 2004, [http://www.babblebelt.com/bbb_classic/readarc.html?id=1098553776#null|Re: Boon's involvement in Oud Beersel...how long?]</ref> Boon, along with ten other brewers and blenders make up [[HORAL]].<ref name=HoralBoon>Horal - Boon (Dutch), http://www.horal.be/vereniging/boon-lembeek</ref>
==Brewing Process==
* [[Brouwerij Boon Breweriana|Signs]]
* [[Brouwerij Boon Breweriana|Everything Else]]
== Photos ==
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File:BrouwerijBoon-1.jpg
File:BrouwerijBoon-2.jpeg
File:BrouwerijBoon-3.jpg
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== Videos ==