Changes

Jump to: navigation, search

HORAL

105 bytes added, 03:06, 13 October 2014
Critique of HORAL
Of the eleven brewers and blenders in HORAL, seven make at least one product on a regular basis that would not be considered traditional by some either due to production method or artificially sweetening. Of those seven brewers and blenders, five of them have commercial product portfolios consisting of 50% or more of sweetened lambics (calculated by brand name, not by output volume). This has led to questions of the legitimacy of HORAL as an organized body protecting so-called traditional lambic. If the group continues to recognize brewers and blenders whose product portfolios represent a majority of sweetened or "non-traditonal" products, how can they be a force in maintaining the traditional standards to which they claim to aspire? This question has been addressed publicly on at least one occasion by notable non-HORAL member, Jean Van Roy of [[Brasserie_Cantillon|Cantillon]].
Though it is true that many of the brewers and blenders under the HORAL umbrella do consistently produce sweetened or non-tradtional lambics, all of them produce at least one "traditional" product, if not more. Thus, the stength of HORAL seems to lie in the maintenance of what is traditional vis-à-vis its relationship with the European Union while the members are free to pursue what is in their best interest as a business so long as there is at least a modicum of tradition in their overall product portfolio. Indeed, the HORAL website acknowledges these portfolios of sweetened or non-traditional beers under each brewery's page. Additonally, Avermaete & Vandermosten write that recently "the TSG label has proved its role in safeguarding the identity of specific characteristics in brewing that are not in line with current measures on hygiene and food safety.<Ref name = Avermaete&Vandermosten> Tessa Avermaete and Gert Vandermosten, Traditional Belgian Beers in a Global Market Economy, 2009 </ref> At the very least, HORAL would seem a unifying voice for the preservation of the Belgian lambic community at largeas political landscapes continue to change and potentially threaten various aspects of lambic production.
==Cantillon's Non-Involvement==
Delete, Protect, administrator
8,485
edits

Navigation menu