Cantillon Brewery

Brettanomyces bruxellensis

Brussels is a beautiful city... lively, gastronomic, multicultural and atypical. But beyond the chocolate museum, the real curiosity of the city lies in its sister city, behind the walls of the Cantillon Brewery, which has been located in the Anderlecht district for over 100 years. This historic place takes us back in time, to a time when each district of Brussels had its own brewery. At the turn of the 19th century, the city had no less than 120 breweries, today they can hardly be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Founded in 1900 by the Van Roy family, Cantillon was originally a gueuzerie, which bought lambic wort and assembled it. Then, in 1937, with the acquisition of the necessary equipment, the gueuzerie was transformed into a brewery, still in the same premises... and nothing has changed since.

The large red copper basin at the top of the building is a must-see. The wort is cooled there, in the open air, and inoculated with bacteria and wild yeasts, the famous Brettanomyces bruxellensis, in order to start its spontaneous fermentation, and then put into barrels, mainly from France, always second-hand, where it becomes lambic... At Cantillon, they only brew in autumn and winter, about forty times, when the temperatures allow it. The milder air contains too many harmful bacteria.

The house signature is acidic beers, not seeking the bitterness sometimes associated with the beverage. Unmalted wheat, malted barley and older, softer hops are the simple ingredients needed to make Cantillon beers. And then of course time...

The Gueuze is a harmonious blend of a young lambic and various older lambics, two or three years old, and then goes through a second fermentation, this time in the bottle. The younger beers provide the sugars needed for the second fermentation and the freshness, the older beers give the blend its character and finesse.

Since 1999, the brewery has only used certified organic ingredients, in order to defend a certain idea of the environment and ecology, and to preserve the climate necessary for the brewing process during the winter. Pragmatic activism.