Exclusively available at specialty-beershop Belgiuminabox is 3 Fonteinen Doesjel Vintage Bottling February 2006.
Limited stock, collector items !

All lambic brewers are now bottling their fruit-lambics for this year.
We are going to see a lot of the fruit-lambic-ales coming out in the coming weeks.
I am looking forward for the Schaerbeekse Kriek of Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen came out with a Schaerbeekse already.
De Cam has a Kriek in the pipeline and maybe a framboise…

Cantillon is continuing with it’s Fou’ Foune, a mix of lambic and peche. The peaches used to brew the Fou’ Foune come from France.

Check the beer-shop at Belgiuminabox.com in the coming weeks to see the newest bottlings !

Cheers, Kurt.

Cantillon Mamouche Bottle

Cantillon Mamouche -the the previous Zwanze 09- is here !

Jean from Cantillon-brewery has just bottled his “new” elderflowers-(vlierbloesem)-lambic.

Elderflowers, handpicked by the Cantillon-team and soaked in in 2-yr-old  Lambic.

The Mamouche is now available online at beer-shop Belgiuminabox. Limited stock!

Order 3 bottles and get a free Cantillon Glass!

Check out Mamouche (Zwanze 09) in the Belgiuminabox shop

Due to the limited availabilty only 3 bottles per order can be bought.

This product includes 3 bottles and a Cantillon glass

Great news from Belgian beer world !
Today it was announced that Brewery Duvel-Moortgat from Breendonk is buying the family owned Antwerps Brewery De Koninck.
In the last few months mainly foreign brewers came forward to buy the troubled Belgian brewery (Heineken from Holland).
The beer,  mainly Bolleke De Koninck – Antwerps city beer – is  having a hard time selling in the home market.
De Konink’s main source of income is their vast patrimony of brewery owned pubs in the Antwerp area.

Now that Duvel-Moortgat comes into play,  I’m sure (necessary) synergies will become possible.

Over the last few years the Duvel-Moortgat group have become kind of a national saveier within the Belgian beer landscape.

I think most of the Belgian beer world is applauding this development…

Duvel-Moortgat, keep moving forward.

Kurt

Through this blogpost Belgiuminabox is announcing it is fulfilling the necessary laws of conduct of an e-commerce business anno 2010, this, under the protection and clearing by the Belgian organization for Belgian enterpreneurs Unizo.

Unizo looks at a range of criteria before they grant their logo to be put on the web-shop in question.

This granting means that Unizo is looking at a series of parameters that has to meet a higher level of professionalism, going from the safety of the payment platform to the info given with regard to prices in foreign currencies to the explanation about the delivery process and much more.

Every year Unizo is reviewing and analyzing the web-shop on those topics.

The E-commerce label given yearly by Unizo tells visitors and customers of Belgiuminabox they are dealing with a trustworthy party that is customer oriented and where it is safe and easy to shop online. Unizo is also checking if the web-shop is improving their service on a continuing basis.

Kurt is welcoming any other fresh and new insights and ideas that may enhance total customer satisfaction.

Other feedback with regard to better business practice is always welcome. Useful and good ideas will be rewarded !

Cheers, Kurt.

Belgiuminabox is pleased to introduce on the beershop the 2010 version of  Cantillon’s  Zwanze-Blanche de Quenast.

Blanche de Haute Valeur (BHV), brewed at Cantillon Brewery April 21st 2008 with the collaboration of Yvan Debaets from Brewery De La Senne.

How will a high fermentation beer ferment in the environment of a Lambic brewery where wild yeasts prevail ?

This old style white beer gives you the answer !

Only 1000 bottles of this 4% white beer – gueuze where brewed and Belgiuminabox could get hold of a small batch of them.

To let enjoy as much people as possible of the Zwanze 2010, we only allow 2 bottles per person to buy.

Beer-enthousiasts can post their tasting notes of the Zwanze 2010 here @  Belgiuminabox’s blog.

We are looking forward reading you feedback.

For the rest make sure to enjoy this beauty, … while stocks lasts !

Kurt.

Beerdrinkers around the globe,

Sports has often been associated with beer. The crowd standing outside the lines even more than the team playing for the gold. At the upcoming world football championship in South Africa our national beerstar Joe – Piler (Jupiler) will be cheering on our orange upstair neighbor the Netherlands.
^{(http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=VH2PRQTT&word=jup+holland+jup )}
But if your in need of some exercise yourself, as from this summer you can try out the other famous sport – cycling – among the Belgians guided by some of our finest beers.

You don’t need to be Lance Armstrong or Tom Boonen to take your bicycle out for a good ride in the Belgian landscape.

A lot of “occasionally sporty” Belgians like to combine those tours with a good beer and make it a “kappelekestocht” – freely translated it means a much as “chapels tour”. By stopping in a few bars, some true chapels for beerlovers, along the road to quench their thirst.

Done by bicycle, or the shorter ones by foot, you can easily follow the similar looking numbered signs of the “Fietsknooppunten Netwerk” ^{http://www.fietsnet.be/routeplanner/default.aspx} .
As a big fan myself of these trails – all you do is just number out your trail – I was very amused to find myself at the press conference at Brewery De Koninck on May 11^th. Four main breweries out of the Antwerp Province, together with the Antwerp Province Tourist Office combined some of those dots for us. Resulting in a walk around the city of Mechelen by “Het Anker” and 3 bicycle circles by the Trappists of Westmalle, the famous Duvel and the city brewery of De Koninck. ^{www.beersofantwerp.be}

If you want to give Belgium a visit on your next holiday, rent yourself a bike and follow at least one of these trails. If you like the countryside the Westmalle Beerroute is a 48km loop around the Trappist Abbey in West-Malle a must do. You can shorten the route to 28km by doing the upper or lower loop of the 8 that takes around abbey . In the upper loop you can find the female Trappist Abbey of Brecht.  Unfortunately the sisters don’t brew beer as their brother monks in West-Malle do.

Duvel – “the Knight” – has a true marathon set out in the idyllic surroundings of rivers and grasslands. By bike you can explore this route easily as it from now on follows the “Fietsknooppunten Netwerk “.  Just checking your list with numbers allows you to follow the route smoothly. But make sure the Duvels you drink along the road cloud the lessons learned along at the big boards you meet on your expedition.

“The King” – De Koninck has set out his “Bollekesroute”. A 34km cycling circle throughout urban and rural sites of Antwerp. You can start either at the brewery itself – ^{www.dekoninck.be} – or at the Provincal Park Rivierenhof – ^{www.kasteel-rivierenhof.be} – for a lovely daytrip. A stop for a visit in the historical center or a view at it from “the” Leftbank can easily be made. It passes at both sides of the riverbank and takes you for a walk underneath the river Schelde. Let the acoustic sound of the “pedestrian tunnel” as the Antwerp people love to call their Sint Anna Tunnel impress you in this refreshing break of your trail.

In Antwerp bikes can easily be rented in the city centre or at the basements of the train station Antwerp Central. Don’t let not being able to carry your own bike be an excuse for staying at home.

Come over to Belgium and enjoy a sportive and yet refreshing holiday!

Cheers,
Anneke

Belgiuminabox

“Refreshing Belgian Gueuze beers”

When the sun is calling you to some lovely terrace in the city streets or a quiet place in the garden, make sure you have the right beer to quench your thirst. When the spring turns to summer, in these first few warm rays of light, a Gueuze is an ideal partner to enjoy those moments.

Important when choosing your Gueuze, is knowing about its style characteristics. Because an “Oude Gueuze” – Old Gueuze – is nothing like any beer you’ve ever drunk. Gueuze is a style of beer that is spontaneous fermented (mainly) on the south-west region of Belgium’s and Europe’s Capital – Brussels.

In this “Pajottenland”, the countryside along the banks of the river Senne, brewers still rely on  brewing methods like used in the old days. In the name “Oude Gueuze” old refers to the ancient process and techniques and not the age of the beer itself.  The Lambiek - brewed with at least 30% of unmalted wheat and hops older than a year – is spontaneously fermented by letting it cool down using the surrounding air. The bacteria’s native to this region – Brettanomyces Bruxellensis – will impregnate the Lambiek giving it its unique flavor.

After some rest in big wooden casks, the Lambieks are blended to become Gueuzes. Even though all come from the same area, every brewery has its unique micro-flora of yeasts and bacteria in the air. This results in a variety of sour tastes in the different brands of Gueuze.

If you’re experiencing a Gueuze-style beer for the first time, I’d suggest you start out with something mild sour to get used to the taste. An Oude Gueuze Boon (preferably in a 37,5cl bottle with a cork) can be a good starter. In case you’re not that much into this more lactic acidity, you can try a more acetic Gueuze leaning towards the vinegar acidity’s. Here a Gueuze 3 Fonteinen, is a nice start.
When willing to experience the more white wine-a-like soft sours, let the Oud Beersel, a Cantillon or a hard to get by De Cam seduce you to uncork the bottle.

Now all you need to do is pick your bottle, toast a slice of bread in the mean while. Uncork your bottle and poor the beer gently in your glass – by turning it in your hand palm wetting the inner glass with the Gueuze to create a fabulous famous. Last you rub the bread with some white cheese and add an overlay of sliced radishes and some fresh garden herbs.

Sit back. Take a sip. Take a bite. Enjoy the moment.

Kurt from Belgium In A Box has a nice selection of Gueuzes and Krieks to choose from.

Check out the online shop for new and often hard to get brews.

Belgium In A Box has direct links and the opportunity to buy before the beers come to market from the Gueuze brewers of Brussels  !

Santé ! Gezondheid ! Cheers !

Anneke – Belgium In A Box.

“Beerology”

Beerlovers around the World,

If you let me, I’ll briefly tell you about myself.

My name is Anneke, a 26 year old bartender and beerlover. After studying Hotel management I was a little disappointed concerning the attention for our Belgian Beers in class.

So I searched and found a study just made for my plans: Zythology – Zythos is an ancient Greek word that is translated as “beer”. This profound “beer-ology” lessons I started out in the fall of 2008 and within a few weeks now, I’ll obtain my degree as a Zytholoog.

The past two years I have spent studying the production process for the different beer types, building up tasting expertise by tasting a few beers every lesson guided by some of the best Belgian brewers. We have wandered around in the rich history of our beers, going from the very beginning till the high-end techniques we have today and throughout the monasteries of our famous Belgian Trappists. Took a closer look at the impact of beer on our health and off course learned how to pour the perfect beer.
In the last steps of the course we learn how to match that perfect poured beer with a tasteful dish to give you the ultimate Belgian culinary experience. Our maybe sip it away with some lovely menu from abroad, the choice is yours.

From now on, I will try to be your guide throughout Belgium. I’ll take you away to breweries and their beers giving you an insight in the mysterious world of brewing.  Every week we’ll try to provide you a different view on the beer.

Some weeks I’ll give you a more technical hint, another week  a beer and / or a brewery will be in the center of attention. We can go time-travelling to either the future or the past in a few blogs. And we might not forget to provide you with some recipes to come by the finest of all beers.

Prosit,

Anneke

Belgium In A Box

Cantillon Brewery is one of the Gueuze brewers that only uses organic materials to brew its beers and the reason for that is twofold.

The first reason is tradition, Cantillon defends the age-old tradition of brewing spontaneous fermentation beers and secondly, the brewery tries to defend the natural taste of the beer by only using the best raw materials.

This is why in 1999 the Cantillon Brewery decided to go back to its roots and only use organically grown cereals.

GUEUZE   100%  ORGANIC  LAMBIC

Cantillon Brewery has made quite some beautiful brews over the years, they listen to names such as Rosé de Gambrinus, a raspberry-lambic, Grand Cru Bruocsella, 3yr old lambic matured in oak-wooden vats mixed with apples and honey.

Next Cantillon  has a bitter and cold-hopped gueuze called Iris.

The Iris flower who used to grow abuntantly on the banks of the river Zenne in Brussels. The Iris, symbol of Brussels and the Iris beer, a very bitter-sour lambic-geueze is only brewed once a year.

Vigneronne another beautiful product-line of Cantillon is obtained by mixing Lambic with muscat-grapes from Hoeilaart, Overijse and Huldenberg.

Saint-Lamvinus is rare brew made of 3 year-old lambic mixed and soaked with the grapes from the Merlot and Cabarnet-frand varieties in Bordeaux barrels.  Cantillon only carries limited production of this brew !

Fou’ Foune, the nickname of a apricot-grower from the Rhone valley promised to bring Cantillon 300 kgs of ‘Bergerons’ apricots after harvest to make a new brew with lambic-beer.

The limited production of only 3000 l goes in a large part back to the region in France where the apricots come from !

The Lou Pepe line of beers surely have a more fruity flavor. Here the brewery mixes 300 gr of fruit (raspberries or cherries) for every liter of lambic, this in combination with the addition of sweet liqueur and lagering in Bordeaux vats. The result distinguishes  these special and rare beers from the other brews from Cantillon.

Kurt from Belgiuminabox.com is a fan of the Cantillon Brewery, I consider this brewery one of the top brewers in Belgium.  I try hard to get hold of their beers and to offer them on the beer-shop.

I recently learned from people of the brewery there is a chance the Fou’ Foune won’t be produced anymore.  The decision hasn’t been made yet. The harvest of new peaches is July-August.

Story to be continued…

Check the Fruit-Lambic section of Belguminabox.com to find out what lambic-beers of Cantillon are in stock.

Beer Greetz,

Kurt.