Beer #142 - Cantillon Geuze (Classic/Organic/Bio)

When looking up beer-related things to do in Brussels the name Cantillon kept popping up and thus I resolved to visit the brewery, a stones throw from the Eurostar terminal in the city. The brewery is open most of the year to visitors and is well worth checking out. Entry is pretty cheap at 6 Euro, which includes a couple of tasters. You're given an information booklet and the tour is self-guided, it's a pretty small brewery and it doesn't take long before you find yourself back at the bar. They also sell their beer to take away at very reasonable prices. The brewery brews lambic beers, a concept that I was previously totally unaware of. Beer is 'spontaneously fermented' in huge open vats that are left to the open air before being bottles andstored for at least a year. The beer is then blended to create a variety of final products. The most notable of which is geuze which makes up half of the brewery's production. For the classic geuze the brewers blend 1, 2 and 3 year old bottles of lambic which is then fermented again before it is ready to drink. The brewery also produces kriek. The beer itself is unlike anything I've really tasted in that it's deliberately sour. It was therefore quite a different experience and I'd like to try a few more sour beers for making a deliberation on whether I like it or not! The brewery itself was great though and I'd highly recommend it should you find yourself in Brussels.

Brewery: Brasserie Cantillon
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.0%

Brasserie Cantillon, Rue Gheude, Brussels