The Belgian Smaak Podcast | Exploring the world of Belgian beer Breandán Kearney

Photos by Cliff Lucas







This editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS as part of the “Common Place” series of podcasts. 



















his Lambic blendery Het Boerenerf, Senne Eylenbosch saved his father’s farm, discovered his own identity, and began the next chapter in his family’s storied Lambic heritage.







You’d be forgiven for thinking Senne’s twin obsessions—Lambic and stag beetles—had little in common. But both are indigenous to the valley in which he grew up. The beetles, the largest in Belgium, live in oak in the same way the spontaneously fermented wheat beer does. They have, just like Lambic, faced the very real threat of extinction, but have in recent years staged a revival. And like Lambic, the stag beetle is resilient (the males use their mandibles to fight for females and for food); it’s slow-moving, because of its oversized mandibles; and it’s fragile (they live for only three to five years, more or less the time it takes to produce an Oude Geuze). 



















































When Senne Eylenbosch is talking—and as you’ll hear, Senne Eylenbosch likes to talk—his musings on stag beetle conservation and the maturation of Lambic could easily be interchanged. “Don’t touch it,” he says multiple times about the stag beetle. “Don’t touch it,” he says multiple times when discussing Lambic. He talks about patience. He talks about respect. He talks about nature. “Don’t touch it,” he says, again and again.







In this discussion, Senne and I talked about the things he learned working at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, how he’s conflicted about his family’s brewing heritage, how he blends the way he does, how he feels about not being able to use his family name in his business, and where he sees his place in the Lambic ecosystem.







Sit back, listen, and enjoy our conversation with Senne Eylenbosch of the Lambic blendery Het Boerenerf.







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Photos by Cliff Lucas







This editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS as part of the “Common Place” series of podcasts. 



















Bravin, Félix Damien, and Martin Pirenne started Brasserie La Jungle in March 2020. Today, Pirenne lives in Canada, emigrating to work at another brewery in Qubec. 







This podcast is a conversation with Bravin and Damien, recorded in their brewery home at Studio Citygate, a complex of old textile warehouses in Brussels’ Anderlecht region.







These warehouses were abandoned for decades but are today given over to creatives, entrepreneurs, and associations as part of an urban renewal project. It’s located a few hundred metres from the city’s Senne river to the east, and a few hundred metres from the Brussels-Charleroi canal to the west.























Outside Studio Citygate are Moroccan bakeries, Romanian cafés, and traffic jams. Inside Studio Citygate, La Jungle’s tiny, windowless production space has for company a diverse range of neighbouring businesses: a skate park, a climbing hall, a music centre, a chocolatier, a jewellery designer, a blacksmith, a book binder, a ceramic potter, and a bicycle shop. 







The brewery was named for the chaotic urban jungle that surrounds it; a chaos that its owners loved but from which they also aspired to be free. Their ambition was to to cohesively merge their widely diverging beer tastes—pastoral Belgian ales, and in particular Saison, traditional English styles, and mixed fermentation beers packed with fruit. 











































They’d do it against a challenging backdrop: these challenges include disinterest from Brussels drinkers in unfamiliar styles, rolling pandemic lock-downs (they opened a few days before the first COVID shutdown), the fracturing of their original triumvirate through emigration, today’s global energy crisis, and an increasingly cut-throat beer market. 







In Belgian beer, it’s survival of the fittest: you live by the law of the jungle.







Sit back, listen, and enjoy our conversation with Christophe Bravin and Félix Damien of Brasserie La Jungle.







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Photos by Cliff Lucas







This editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS as part of the “Common Place” series of podcasts. 



























has purchase on a roughly 65 kilometre stretch of North Sea coast.







Bordered by Bray-Dunes and the French Opal coast to the south and Cadzand and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in The Netherlands to the north, Belgium’s coast is fully in the province of West Flanders. Along the coast are 15 beach resorts or towns, from major developments like Ostend to smaller towns like De Haan and Koksijde.







With a cumulative six Michelin stars in restaurants in the region, the coast has a density of just over 1 Michelin-starred restaurant for every 10 kilometres. 



































































There are breweries too—at least three, depending on your definition and geographical scope (Brouwerij St Idesbald, Jus de Mer, and Stadsbrouwerij Oostende ‘t Koelschip)—and many cafés, restaurants, and bistros with something to offer your non-Michelin guide reader.







These businesses and the towns they occupy are all strung out alongside or straddling the metal tracks of Tram 0, the Kusttram, Belgium’s coastal tramline.







67 kilometres long and comprising 68 stops, the tram has been trundling leisurely between these pleasure centres for 137 years. It’s the longest single tram line in the world.























Eoghan Walsh, beer writer and fellow Irishman in Belgium, took the Kusttram the length of the coast to explore its food and drink culture. 







Sit back, listen, and enjoy our audio exploration of food and drink culture on the Belgian coast.







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Photos by Cliff LucasProduction support by Audiotheque







This editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS as part of the “Straight Talk” series of podcasts. 



























has a rich festival scene. Every single weekend in the year, you could choose between a multitude of music shows, food markets, neighbourhood parties, and cultural shows.  







Its beer festival circuit is equally rich. From village fairs to international events, Belgians celebrate beer at festivals like few other nations.







In this podcast, we’re talking Belgian beer festivals with three guests who organise prominent, but wonderfully different beer festivals in Belgium.



















































































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Belgian Beer Festivals























Stéfan Cauwenbergs organises Billie’s Craft Beer Festival.







Billie’s Craft Beer Fest was named after Billie, Stéfan’s French bulldog, and every year brings 50 breweries — from Belgium and other countries — to the Waagnatie hall in Antwerp.







It’s a highly-curated and invite-only selection, always sold out shortly after tickets go on sale.







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Bart Vanneste is on the organising committee of Bruges Beer Festival.







Bruges Beer Festival is one of the largest beer festivals in Belgium.







It’s hosted by the beer consumer group BAB. This June’s festival was its 15th annual edition. 







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Jan Machiel van Bragt is part of team that organises the Kerstbierfestival.







The Kerstbierfestival is a beer festival hosted by beer group OBER which takes place every December in Essen.







Translating as the Christmas beer festival, the kerstbierfestival pours only Christmas and Winter beers from Belgian breweries.

Photos by Ahmed ElAmin of The Beer Idiots Production support from BitstreamSupported by VISITFLANDERS.



























year, in April, I moderated a panel discussion on the eve of the Toer de Geuze.







The Lambic Roundtable was an event tailor-made for broadcasting in beer bars all over the world, and as you’ll hear from the discussion, we took questions live from bars with strong reputations for Lambic in different countries.























The Toer de Geuze began in 1997 as a cultural celebration of the tradition of spontaneously fermented Lambic beers. It’s organised by HORAL, the High Council of Artisanal Lambic Beers.







This discussion, the Lambic Roundtable, was just one part of the Toer de Geuze’s rich and diverse programme of events in 2022. The Toer De Geuze is held every two years—it didn’t take place in 2023. So this podcast is both a refresher from last year and a reminder to book in the dates for next year’s Toer: on Saturday 4 May and Sunday 5 May, 2024.







The conversation took place in the foeder room of Brouwerij Boon, home to the largest stock of Lambic on oak in the world. We sat down at an actual round table in front of an intimate live audience who also had the opportunity to follow the stream and ask questions in real time.



























































Sitting at the Lambic Roundtable with me were four guests:







Gert Christiaens is the Chairperson of HORAL. He is also the Owner and Blender at Oud Beersel, a HORAL member Lambic Blendery located in Beersel, Belgium.







Frank Boon is the Founder of Brouwerij Boon and one of the three founding members of HORAL. As well as being a Lambic brewer, Frank is also a Lambic scientist, contributing to several books and documentaries about Lambic.







Kloris Devillé is the Brewer and Owner of Brouwerij Den Herberg, a family brewery which produces Lambic located in Buizingen, Belgium. Den Herberg is the most recent member brewery of HORAL. Kloris is also a Production and Maintenance Manager at Timmermans, another HORAL member Lambic brewery.







Stu Stuart is the owner of a tour company called Belgian Beer Me! Tours which specialise in fun, smart, and affordable beer tours of Belgium for people from all around the world. Stu has been giving tours in Belgium since 2007, including tours centred around the Toer de Geuze, and he has built up close friendships with brewers, café owners, festival organisers, and media personalities.

























a href="https://www.belgiansmaak.

Jerry Franck, Director (left) and Mario Contini, Cinematographer (right)





film Bottle Conditioned is the latest film from Jerry Franck, an Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, who is originally from Luxembourg but now living in America.







Franck was in Belgium last month for the premiere of the film—a documentary that explores the small Belgian community of Lambic beer, where brewers and blenders of different generations wrestle with tradition and the increased demand for their beers.







The film follows the stories of three Lambic producers in particular: Brasserie Cantillon, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, and Bokke.



















The official trailer for the film, Bottle Conditioned















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Stills from Bottle Conditioned, courtesy of Jerry Franck:







































































































































Bottle Conditioned was produced by Courtney Marsh.







Marsh’s work has been distributed and featured on Buzzfeed, Gunpowder&Sky, Netflix, and The Atlantic. She has presented and spoken at Aspen Ideas Festival, the United States Senate, and the United Nations in New York City.  







Franck and Marsh’s previous film Chau, Beyond the Lines was nominated for an Academy Award® in 2016.







In this podcast, we talked to Jerry Franck about Bottle Conditioned, about living in the Lambic world for 4 years, about the creative challenges he faced, and the directorial choices he made.







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