A Little Something for Your Cantillon Fetish.

I had just walked through the doors of Cantillon with a few visitors when Yvan told me about the unique beer he was making with brewmaster Jean Van Roy. I believed Yvan because (1) I'm not always sure when he's telling a joke, and (2) Cantillon makes several special beers for people on contract.

Want a special dry-hopped cuvée to celebrate the birth of your daughter? OK. Want a special bottled lambic, to be sold only at your small little Northern European pub, steeped in your native country's precious dingleberries? Done.

That's why I took him seriously as he explained they were making a lambic for Japanese panty-hose fetishists, by special request. Naturally the fetishists requested that they be used panty hose, previously worn by the brewer's wife. Otherwise what's the point, right?

OK. Turns out the panty hose were not previously worn at all. But they do make a really handy sack for dry hopping. By deduction we can surmise this was either the Iris or the Cuvée des Champions. So next time you sip one of those, think about the particular method in which they were dry-hopped. And if that turns you on, just a little, well, you don't have to tell anyone.

To see other arcane techniques up close, consider hitting one of Cantillon's semiannual public brewing days. The next one is this Saturday, March 7. Get there early for free coffee and croissants.