De Lambiek, Belgium’s Lambic beer visitor center

Belgium has a brand-new visitor’s center, and it’s a good one.

Really good!

De Lambiek (“The Lambic”) opened on May 14, 2011 in the

village ofAlsemberg, near the town of Beersel. This 1.7 million

euro (about 2.25 million U.S. dollar) project was created on the

initiative of several organizations.

The Municipality of Beersel, with the cooperation of Tourism

Flanders and the Tourist Office of The Province of Flemish

Brabant, as well as HORAL (The High Council for Artisanal

Lambic Beers) collaborated on the venture.

Flemish Brabant is, of course, the locale of the Payottenland:

the home of lambic, geuze and kriek beers. De Lambiek’s

location makes perfect sense, as the Municipality of Beersel

consists of the towns of Alsemberg, Beersel, Dworp,

Huizingen and Lot.

With three of the eight members of HORAL within a few

kilometers, it is an idea location. Brussels is just 12 km away.

Without doubt, this classy new center is the Payottenland’s

equivalent of the Maison du Vin in Bordeaux. The three

members near De Lambiek are 3 Fonteinen and Oud Beersel

in the town of Beersel, and Hanssens of Dworp.

The other seven members are Boon, De Cam, Girardin,

Lindemans, Mort Subite, Timmermans and De Troch.

“This is no museum. It’s a living history center,” my

guide, Peter Aelaerts, head of De Lambiek, told me during

the tour. “It’s a place to see and learn, where all your senses

are stimulated,” he continued.

A 100+ seat movie theater provides enough room for even

very large groups to view a 15-minute video about lambic

and geuze production, filmed at HORAL’s member breweries.

The video is offered in four languages and is highly informative.

There is a short history of beer from around 500 A.D. to the

present on one of the walls, focusing on lambic. Each

HORAL lambic blender and brewery has its own dedicated

display case to showcase its products.

Other highlights include a pair of hollowed out foeders:

large wooden barrels, where you can listen to the sounds

of the Oude Geuze brewing process and match which part

of the process you think is happening in the audio.

Another interactive display stimulates the olfactory senses:

want to smell cherries, hops, wheat, and barley? You can, here.

You can also touch these beer ingredients. Perhaps even better,

though, is that you can taste the final product just meters away.

De Lambiek’s tasting room faces the outside in this modern,

bright, airy building, with seating for around 100 inside and

dozens more outside on the patio in nice weather.

The beer selection is excellent, with 26 different bottled brews

on offer. Prices are “very democratic” as they like to say in

Belgium (meaning, very reasonable!) Oude Geuze and

Oude Kriek are stocked in 375 ml (12.7 ounce) bottles,

making them easy to share, using the special De Lambiek

tasting glasses.

All the Oude Geuze costs 3 euro a bottle, while most of the

Oude Kriek is as well, save a couple. The only 75 cl bottle

on the list during my September 30, 2011 visit was HORAL’s

Oude Geuze Megablend, at a reasonable 12 euro.

There is always a draft “Beer of the Month” on, and

Oud Beersel’s one year old lambic was it during my

visit. This beer is also offered in bag-in-box, at just

17.25 euro for 5 liters.

De Lambiek is open from 11am-6pm on Wednesdays,

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Group visits are also

available by appointment on Mondays, Tuesdays and

Thursdays. Cost is 2 euro per person, or 1 euro each

for groups of 15 or more. See: beersel.be.