WHAT: LAMBIEK FABRIEK
Belgium's next Lambic Superstar
Thrilling new Lambic Producer coming to Minnesota
WHERE: Yoerg Brewery
WHEN: Sunday, May 7th
12:00pm to 6:00pm
A FOUR BEER FLIGHT FEATURING:
JART-ELLE -OUD KRIEK Lambiek Fabriek, MURI-ELLE BLACKBERRY Lambiek Fabriek, BLACK-BELLE -BLACK CURRANT Lambiek Fabriek and the GROS-ELLE --RED CURRANT Lambiek Fabriek.
The new breed of Lambic Brewers
My greatest discovery on my last trip to Belgium was this fabulous new Lambic producer called LAMBIEK FABRIEK. On Sunday, May 7th, we will be introducing their beers into the Minnesota market. We will have at least 4-6 beers available, with flights as well. If you are a Lambic fan, you don't want to miss.
Lambiek Fabriek ('The Lambic Factory') was founded in Sint Pieters Leeuw in 2016 by Jo Panneels and a few friends. Panneels worked in a Mental Hospital before taking a break and started this side business, and had been brewing small batches of Lambic beer since 2008. Finally, in 2016, Panneels and a few friends purchased some wort, young lambic, and old lambic from Lindemans, 3 Fonteinen, Oud Beersel, and Hanssens, and they began to experiment making kriek lambiek in small 20L and 60L carboys. Their beers were so successful that Panneels left his job at the hospital and started brewing full time after finding some space to brew at Brouwerij Belgoo's warehouse in Ruisbroek. Belgoo is a clean top fermentation brewery mostly brewing traditional Belgian ales. Jo Van Aert, brewer at Belgoo, agreed to let Lambiek Fabriek brew lambic on-premises.
The lambic brewed on the Belgoo side of the brewery is a traditional lambic recipe that consists of 35% malted wheat and 65% malted barley and ages his hops for at least 12 months before using them. The brewhouse at Belgoo has a capacity of 24 hectoliters. The stainless steel "koelship" (the open top fermenting tank) was fabricated locally and is divided into two equal halves of 1,200 liters each; and located literally right under the roof of the building. After the wort is "infected" with the wild yeasts (24-30 hours tops), it is then pumped over to the Lambiek Fabriek side at approximately 95 degrees Celsius and left to cool until it is transferred over to barrels at around 22 to 23 degrees Celsius where it will sit for one to three years. Today the boys own 8 large 47 hectoliter foeders, 50 220 Liter French barrels from Burgundy and 230 400 Liter French oak barriques.
The Blends are done in a 3,200 liter stainless steel blending tank and left to rest for 24 hours before being bottled. Each blend yields approximately 4,000 75oml bottles or 8,000 375ml bottles. When touring the blendery, some barrels are marked with a capital “B” to indicate that they lambic inside has been made from organic grains. Of the new breed of Lambic brewers in Belgium, the Lambiek Fabriek may be the finest of the bunch with some absolutely stunning beers
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