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[[An_Overview_of_Lambic|← An Overview of Lambic]]

==A Brief History of Lambic in Belgium==

As early as the 1400s, but certainly by 1559, the specific ratios for brewing what would become known as lambic were already being laid out. A tax collector in the city of Halle had specified that beer brewed in the town should be brewed with a specific ratio of barley to wheat in order to control revenues based on crop harvests. Around the same time, beer, which was always a drink popular with the peasant class, was becoming more prominent in Renaissance art. Many believe that the first historical depiction of this stoneware being used for lambic (more specifically Faro) is in Pieter Bruegel's painting ''The Peasant Wedding'' (''Le Repas de noce'', French, ''De boerenbruiloft'', Dutch).<ref name=GeuzeFaroEtKriek>Raymond Buren, [[Books#Gueuze.2C_Faro_et_Kriek|Gueuze, Faro, et Kriek]], 1992</ref> Completed ca. 1567-68, the painting depicts a wedding ceremony in which stone pitchers are used for serving beer to guests.

The tradition of brewing wheat-based beers extended forward from the days of the Gauls and permeated most of what is modern day Belgium and Germany. Sadly, much of the history of brewing lambic was never recorded and what is left are largely educated guesses based on the number of breweries licensed to operate in and around the Brussels area that likely produced some form of lambic, an extensive list of brewers, blenders, and cafés that are no longer in operation, and anecdotal accounts like those of Jef Lambic in ''[[Books#Les_Memoirs_de_Jef_Lambic| Les Memoirs de Jef Lambic]]''. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, brewers were generally considered artisans and were mainly part of the agrarian community.<ref name="Guinard">Jean-Xavier Guinard, [[Books#Classic Beer Styles: Lambic|Classic Beer Styles: Lambic]], 1990</ref> This meant that many of the brewers were themselves farmers or had close family or community ties to the farmers in the community who supplied the raw materials for making beer.

Around the same time as the brewing processes were being worked out, the aforementioned Jef Lambic was writing his manuscript providing an overview of the Brussels lambic culture from a social perspective. The author, who was the son of a lambic brewer at Brouwerij De Keersmaeker (later known as Mort Subite), describes the lambic cafés of the day as chic meeting places for both the upper and working classes. He also discusses the invasion of the “brown beers” in the 19th century.<ref name=JefLambic>Jef Lambic, [[Books#Les_Memoirs_de_Jef_Lambic| Les Memoirs de Jef Lambic]], ~1955 </ref> These bottom fermented German beers was cause for concern to many brewers in Brussels and Belgium alike when they first began appearing in the 1860’s.<ref name="Guinard">Jean-Xavier Guinard, [[Books#Classic Beer Styles: Lambic|Classic Beer Styles: Lambic]], 1990</ref>

Through the late 1800’s bottled lambic was still relatively uncommon owing to the difficulty of controlling the fermentation and having bottles explode. The lambic geuse was showcased the 1897 World’s Fair in Brussels and started to gain some popularity outside of the area after having been a relatively localized produced. By 1900, Kriek lambic had already been popularized, and an early mention of framboise lambic occurred around 1909-10. Paul Cantillon, of [[Brasserie_Cantillon|Brasserie Cantillon]] stated that they had more bottles of Framboise than of Kriek in his inventory for 1909-1910, which was reaffirmed by Jean Van Roy during the Lambic Summit, 2010.<ref name=“CantillonGambrinus”>http://www.cantillon.be/br/3_103 Cantillon Rosé De - Gambrinus</ref><ref name=summit16>[[The Lambic Summit 2010#Part 16|The Lambic Summit, Part 16]]</ref> In 1919 a law banning spirit drinks from cafés in Belgium was passed, though not often enforced.<ref name="Guinard">Jean-Xavier Guinard, [[Books#Classic Beer Styles: Lambic|Classic Beer Styles: Lambic]], 1990</ref> The First World War brought with it a great challenge for the brewing industry in Belgium in general. Occupying forces confiscated brewing equipment or forced breweries to brew German-style beers, food was rationed, and brewers were forced to shut down.<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>

A similar situation arose with geuze as well. This capsulekengeuze, which was generally comprised of a blend of lambic and top-fermented beer, was filtered, pasteurized, sweetened, pressurized with CO2 and bottled into 25cl bottles. Many breweries at the time adopted this model as a means to survive. This created some confusion in labeling, and in 1965 a royal order began to regulate terms like geuze and how they would be used. The tradition of sweetening lambic continued to grow immensely through the latter half of the 20th century with breweries like [[Brouwerij_Lindemans|Lindemans]], [[Brouwerij_De_Troch|De Troch]], and Belle-Vue producing massive quantities of sweetened lambic. Very few producers were still following the old ways of production.

As mergers and acquisitions continued to close smaller breweries, some breweries managed to remain open and independent. In 1978, Jean Pierre Van Roy of Cantillon opened the brewery up as a ‘living museum’. The [[Musée bruxellois de la Gueuze]] (Brussels Gueuze Museum) was born. The museum strived to preserve the process and qualities of centuries old production techniques in the modern era. Today, it is one of the most frequented stops on any lambic pilgrimate to Brussels. If the era immediately following World War II saw a surge in sweetened lambic, then the 1970’s onward has seen a distinct split in lambic production, appellation, and consumption.