The High Council for Artisanal Lambic Beers (Dutch: Hoge Raad voor Ambachtelijke Lambiekbieren, HORAL) is a non-profit organisation that brings together the gueuze brewers and blenders of the Pajottenland and Zenne Valley in Belgium. [1] [2]
The High Council for Artisanal Lambic Beers (Dutch: Hoge Raad voor Ambachtelijke Lambiekbieren, HORAL) is a non-profit organisation that brings together the gueuze brewers and blenders of the Pajottenland and Zenne Valley in Belgium. [1] [2]
The stated goals of HORAL are:
In January 1997, at the invitation of 3 Fonteinen's Armand Debelder, HORAL's founder members met in Beersel. HORAL was formally established with its original members: 3 Fonteinen, Boon, De Cam, De Troch, Lindemans, and Timmermans. [3]
The first Toer de Geuze was organised on October 19 1997, when HORAL's member producers decided to open their doors to the public. Since then the open brewery day has become a biennial event. Over the past two decades, the Toer de Geuze has effectively become the largest beer event of Flemish Brabant. [4] [5] HORAL successfully campaigned for the creation of a European Union "traditional specialities guaranteed" (TSG) designation for the names "lambic" and "gueuze". [6] [7] This ensures that only products genuinely originating in the region are allowed to be identified as such in commerce. [8] In 2016 HORAL met with representatives of Jester King Brewery to discuss a disagreement over the Americans' use of the term Méthode Gueuze. It was agreed that the Texan brewers would in future use the designation Méthode Traditionnelle as a style name. [9] [10]
HORAL's Megablend Oude Gueuze was first brought to the market in 2009. It is a blend of old and young lambics from HORAL's members. A gueuze enthusiast from Great Britain paid 300 EUR for the first bottle in 2015. [1] [4]
In 2018 lambic producers Girardin and 3 Fonteinen left HORAL. [11] Werner Van Obberghen of 3 Fonteinen said: "We decided to leave HORAL because we could no longer agree with its current values. [5]
In 2020 Lambiek Fabriek (Sint-Pieters-Leeuw) joined HORAL and in 2022 brewery Den Herberg (Buizingen). [12]
Beer is one of the oldest types of alcoholic drinks in the world, and the most widely consumed. It is the third most popular drink overall after potable water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, though wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. During the brewing process, fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the resulting beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents such as gruit, herbs, or fruits may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, the natural carbonation effect is often removed during processing and replaced with forced carbonation.
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, at home by a homebrewer, or communally. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archaeological evidence suggests that emerging civilizations, including ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, brewed beer. Since the nineteenth century the brewing industry has been part of most western economies.
Kriek lambic is a style of Belgian beer, made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries. Traditionally "Schaarbeekse krieken" from the area around Brussels are used. As the Schaarbeek type cherries have become more difficult to find, some brewers have replaced these with other varieties of sour cherries, sometimes imported.
Oudenaarde is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heurne, Leupegem, Mater, Melden, Mullem, Nederename, Volkegem, Welden and a part of Ooike.
Lambic is a type of beer brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium southwest of Brussels and in Brussels itself since the 13th century. Types of lambic beers include gueuze, kriek lambic, and framboise. Lambic differs from most other beers in that it is fermented through exposure to wild yeasts and bacteria native to the Zenne valley, as opposed to exposure to carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeast. This process gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, often with a tart aftertaste.
Alken-Maes is a Belgian brewery created out of the 1988 merger of two small breweries, Maes located at Kontich-Waarloos and Cristal-Alken located at Alken. It was bought by Scottish & Newcastle in 2000, who were taken over by Carlsberg and Heineken in 2007.
Brasserie-Brouwerij Cantillon is a small Belgian traditional family brewery based in Anderlecht, Brussels. Cantillon was founded in 1900 and brews exclusively lambic beers.
Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and stouts. In 2018, there were 304 active breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries including Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 litres of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Gueuze is a type of lambic, a Belgian beer. It is made by blending young (1-year-old) and old lambics, which is bottled for a second fermentation. Because the young lambics are not fully fermented, the blended beer contains fermentable sugars, which allow a second fermentation to occur.
Brettanomyces bruxellensis is a yeast associated with the Senne valley near Brussels, Belgium. Despite its Latin species name, B. bruxellensis is found all over the globe. In the wild, it is often found on the skins of fruit.
Oud Beersel is a Belgian lambic brewery. It is a member of HORAL, whose main event is Toer De Geuze every two years.
3 Fonteinen is a Belgian brewery, specialized in geuze and kriek. The brewery is situated in Beersel, near Brussels and produces classic versions of both kriek and geuze.
Boon Brewery is a Belgian brewery in Lembeek, near Brussels, that mainly produces geuze and kriek beer of a fairly traditional lambic variety, but using modern brewing techniques and equipment. Other products of the brewery including Faro beer and Duivelsbier, the traditional beer of Halle.
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales is a brewery in Dexter, Michigan founded by Ron and Laurie Jeffries in 2004. Jolly Pumpkin produces unfiltered and unpasteurized beers.
The International Brewing Awards, previously known as the Brewing Industry International Awards (BIIA), is a biannual brewing competition with its origins dating to 1886. It is believed to be the oldest international brewing competition in the world. The Awards are owned and organised by Brewing Technology Services Ltd (BTS). Only beers that pay to enter are judged.
Sour beer, also known as Sours, is beer which has an intentionally acidic, tart, or sour taste. Traditional sour beer styles include Belgian lambics, gueuze and Flanders red ale, and German gose and Berliner Weisse.
Vanberg & DeWulf is an American importation business that brings premium Belgian beer to the United States. Vanberg & DeWulf is considered an influential Belgian beer importer.
Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA) is an annual brewing competition that commenced in 1992.
Tilquin is a Belgian lambic beer blendery based in Bierghes, Brussels, founded in 2009 by Pierre Tilquin. Tilquin is the only lambic blendery in the mainly French-speaking, southern region of Wallonia. Tilquin also is exclusively the only blendery that is allowed to blend of one, two, and three-year-old lambics with wort acquired from Boon, Lindemans, Girardin, and Cantillon breweries.
A barrel-aged beer is a beer that has been aged for a period of time in a wooden barrel. Typically, these barrels once housed bourbon, whisky, wine, or, to a lesser extent, brandy, sherry, or port. There is a particular tradition of barrel ageing beer in Belgium, notably of lambic beers. The first bourbon barrel-aged beers were produced in the United States in the early 1990s.
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