Though I’ve been on a number of brewery tours since starting this blog, the one at the Cantillon Brewery might have been my favourite.
And it wasn’t even a tour! It was fully self-directed, but they provide an impressively informative booklet for you to read through while you walk through the brewery, and numbered labels throughout so you can follow along in your book.
Cantillon Brewery makes a classic Belgian style of beer called a lambic beer. They’re actually one of only a handful of breweries that still make this style of beer, mostly because of how time-intensive brewing it is. The beer requires a years-long fermentation process in which it’s fermented both in barrels and in bottles.
You can see every step of the process at Cantillon Brewery — unlike most brewery tours, this is a fully functional operation, and not a glorified museum. You might not actually get to see the machinery being operated, however — because Cantillon’s process is so thoroughly old-school, they can only brew beer when its suitably cold outside (between October and April).
And of course, it wouldn’t be a brewery tour if you didn’t get to try some beer at the end.
I got to try a couple of varieties of lambic beer — gueuze, which is pretty much the standard lambic, and kriek, a variety made with sour cherries.
They were both quite unique. It’s probably not something I’d want to drink all the time, but it’s definitely a lot more interesting than your standard lager. The gueuze was quite sour, with a mild carbonation and an intense flavour that reminded a bit of a cider crossed with champagne. I don’t think I would have pegged it as beer if I hadn’t known.
The kriek had a similar flavour, but with a mild underlying fruitiness and a very, very subtle sweetness.
I thought they were both fine, but to be honest I think I enjoyed learning about them more than actually drinking them.
Location: Rue Gheude 56, 1070 Anderlecht, Belgium
How to find it: The outside says “Brasserie” rather than “Brewery,” which threw me off a bit, but that’s the place.