#1: Cantillon - Saturday 31st Jan, 2009

The first of the 55 breweries to be signed off in the book was the amazing Cantillon Lambic Brewery, in Brussels.

The reason that Cantillon was first is that Shane arrived on the Eurostar at Brussels Midi station. Midi Station, despite the name is Brussels South station and our main international train terminal. It lies a (Glenn McGrath) stone's throw (or about 5 mins walk) from the Cantillon Brewery. Shane's 10:30am arrival was perfectly timed, because the brewery opens its doors at 10am on Saturdays (0900 on weekdays - closed Sundays and public holidays). Don't be fooled (as our friends Kate and Sean were) by the closed door policy - it is a lambic brewery after all, so protecting the interior microclimate is paramount. Just push the door open and be prepared for a treat.

"The New Book" has the following to say about Cantillon:

"The Cantillon Brewery, based in the most multicultural area of inner Brussels, produces eight regular bottled beers and two draught beers. If this book were a straightforward listing of the 100 best beers in Belgium all ten would be included. As it is, to balance the book we have chosen only five - a distinction shared only with Dupont."

Cantillon also hosts an amazing museum and incredibly informative self-guided tour of a very real and unique working family brewery. After collecting Shane, we grabbed some coffee and waffles to fortify ourselves against the cold, deposited his bags in the car, then walked.

I have done the tour before (and I have also enjoyed nearly all the Cantillon beers), but I was nonetheless anticipating a repeat performance. Not only for the sake of the book - it really is a truly Belgian experience worth sharing with friends, and we were to meet fellow Belge-Aussies Kate and Sean at the brewery.

The tour cost EUR5 per person (Jasper was free - although it was a little awkward getting him up and down all the stairs - thanks for the help Sean.) The price includes a glass of Gueuze, a glass of Kriek, and a detailed tour booklet (available in various languages - the English was excellent.) The booklet guides you through the entire brewery, explaining each of the different areas and all the important equipment. The highlight is the amazing riveted copper cooling tun inside the ceiling where 7,500 litres of wort is is left to cool and is innoculated with airborne wild yeasts that are specific to this room. Having destroyed many batches of homebrew through a similar, but accidental process, I am amazed at the art of the lambic brewers who are able to encourage the growth of the good wild yeasts while limiting the damage from the bad ones over a period of years, to produce such an amazing drink.

We completed the official tour in the bottling room where they were labelling and packing the latest batch of Rose de Gambrinus raspberry kriek which probably has one of my favourite ridiculously cheesy labels in this land of ridiculously cheesy beer labels. Now it was time to relax in the cozy and wonderfully old-world atmospheric tasting room.

At this point that my mission to try all the beers in the book in-situ started to go a little pear-shaped, or perhaps, I just realised that there was a need to be a little more pragmatic on occasion. Since they only did by-the-glass tastings of the Gueuze and Kriek, if I wanted to drink all five beers onsite, that would mean five X 750ml bottles. Of course, I did have Shane, Jeannie, Sean, Kate, and Jasper to help, so five bottles of relatively low alcohol organic beer may not have been too daunting, except for the facts that Jasper is only 23 months old, Sean was the only other person who actually likes Lambic beer. Thankfully, there was no need to attempt to convince my fellow travellers to sit by while Sean and I got drunk, because they did not have all the beers in stock. The Fou' Foune is only available each year for about a month and a half from early September, and the Lou Pepe Framboise from September to November.

Resolving to come back in September, I bought three takeaways each of the Bruocsella Grand Cru, Iris, and Vigneronne.

I was also lucky enough to get my book signed by the legendary Jean-Pierre Van Roy, (A.K.A. Lou Pepe himself) who was good enough to add the little note "Avec toute ma sympathie"; his response to my explanation of my quest :-)

After the tour, we were all hungry and thirsty, so went for a wander to St Catherine to savour the delights of Mer du Nord.

As an interesting aside, St Catherine in Brussels is the only church that I'm aware of that provides a public urinal against one of its walls. As Shane and I pissed on this beautiful historic building, I realised that the Church was still able to do some good, and considered repenting from my increasingly militant atheism. This selfless public service initiative in an tourist area that is seriously underserviced in public utilities truly highlights the ongoing value of religion, even in this century.