Lambic Month campaign puts the ‘champagne of beers’ in the spotlight

With the Lambic Month campaign, the tourism body of Flemish Brabant province is putting the spotlight on lambic beers. Visitors can get acquainted with the “champagne of beers” through an extensive tourism offer, including walking and cycling tours, tastings, lectures, nocturnes and cellar days.

Lambic is a sour beer style brewed since the 13th century in the Pajottenland region southwest of Brussels, in Flemish Brabant province, and in Brussels itself. It’s an unusual beer style, that is fermented via wild yeasts and bacteria – no yeast is added by the brewers. This gives beers of the lambic family very distinctive flavours. Popular variants are the geuze beers and the fruit beers, especially the cherry beer Kriek. A well-known lambic and geuze producer is Brewery Boon from Lembeek.

During Lambic Month, from 25 October to 24 November, Tourism Flemish Brabant highlights the uniqueness of the lambic beer culture. “Thanks to the brewing method and the typical spontaneous fermentation in wooden barrels, lambic is the “champagne of beers”, a beer that cannot be found anywhere else in the world,” stated the provincial tourism body.

“It is and will remain an exclusive product,” stated Gunther Coppens, provincial responsible for tourism, to Flemish public broadcaster VRT. “Our breweries welcome many visitors from abroad, from the United Kingdom or Brazil for example, who then take a few bottles back to their home countries. Our beers thus reach the farthest corners of the world, which is crucial.”

According to Coppens, the number of Lambic producers has grown considerably in the region. “In the 1980s, the number of producers could be counted on one hand, but today there are about thirty.”

During Lambic Month, there are amongst others special walking and cycling tours, tastings, lectures, nocturnes and cellar days. This way, people can discover the region's lambic breweries, authentic pubs and innovative restaurants.

The Flemish government also sees the lambic culture as a tourist asset. For the Lambiekland project, the government offered Flemish Brabant province a subsidy of 300,000 euros. Lambiekland is a digital platform where people can find out all about the world of lambic.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Wooden beer barrels at Oud Beersel, an artisanal Lambic brewery brewing kriek and geuze beers © BELGA PHOTO ARTERRA}