Beautiful Things: De Troch Oude Kriek.

Surprisingly dark in color, deep like burgundy or blood, absolutely plump with fleshy cherry, under-girded by the rustic funk of proper lambic. Redolent of lemon, cherry, almond, amaretto -- those from the cherries -- and oak, musty old bookshop, dusty old stable -- those from the lambic. Sourish but not puckering, its acidity checked by lush cherry, drying out to a lingering fruity-vinegar tang.

An astounding beer.

If that doesn't surprise you as much as it surprised me, I should explain: Two of the worst drinks I've ever experienced came from that old lambic brewery known as De Troch.

One of them would be Chapeau Banana. It tastes to me like soda pop made from candy made from banana essence made from -- somewhere farther down the line, perhaps -- actual bananas, badly overripe. You should try it! What an experience.

The other would be De Troch's actual unblended lambic poured from casks at the brewery. This was a decade ago as part of the Toer de Geuze. This young-ish amber liquid was either badly flawed or simply in those awkward stages of metamorphosis where one should never, ever walk in on what's happening. It reeked badly of cooked, rotting vegetables. (In retrospect, the smell might have been mercaptan, a nasty compound produced by some anaerobic bacteria.) 

I've talked to enough lambic brewers, blenders, enthusiasts and know-it-alls over the years to realize, eventually, that I was unlucky (in the second instance). Most of them regard the base lambic at De Troch pretty highly these days, even if they look the other way with the jokey fruit beers.

Even so, I can't help but take it with a fat grain of salt whenever people praise the more austere, traditional 'Oude' beers coming out of Wambeek -- the Chapeau Cuvée, a.k.a. De Troch Oude Gueuze, and the De Troch Oude Kriek, the latter of which re-appeared in 2015 after nudging from U.S. importers. It says '2014' on the bottle because that's when they brewed the base lambic.

Anyway, I grabbed a bottle at Dranken Geers last month. Popped it open a few nights ago. Some like to sit on their fruit lambics a while and see how they evolve. I say, drink 'em if you got 'em.

Geuze, Geuze, and Non-Smoking News.

It only happens every other year. But that's twice as often as the World Cup or the Olympics, so let's count our blessings. The Toer de Geuze--Pajottenland's original lambic festival on wheels--is set for Sunday, May 1.

If you don't know: Nine lambic makers--Boon, De Cam, De Troch, Drie Fonteinen, Hanssens, Lindemans, Mort Subite, Oud Beersel and Timmermans--open their doors. They offer tours, beer and nibbles while buses carry happy people from one brewery or blendery to another.

Each bus takes a different route, so choose carefully. For lambic enthusiasts, an ideal route mixes a couple of old favorites with those you'd like to know better. For everyone else, it really doesn't matter. A bus will carry you around the countryside to visit five places offering the most unusual beers on Earth. What else do you need to know?

And if you go, like I did two years ago, you might just be lucky enough to see sausages on a coat rack. Or Armand Debelder in a bow tie.

Speaking of Mr. Debelder, I have a bit more info about that limited series of Drie Fonteinen blends, set to launch in May. Indeed the blends are comprised entirely of different lambics brewed at Drie Fonteinen before the thermostat disaster and the decision to stop brewing. Again, the goal of these special blends is to raise extra money to re-start brewing there. So it all fits.

Finally: Good news for Belgians and foreigners who like to smell and taste their beverages. Starting July 1 all Belgian bars and cafés must be non-smoking, says the constitutional court. Since the start of 2010 the ban had been limited to cafés that serve food, but even then "food" was loosely defined since pre-packaged foods like nuts and chips were allowed.

Now the only exception appears to be for separate smoking rooms with special ventilators... Is it hard to imagine one-room bars installing these vents? Or maybe Delirium will install these vents in all its rooms. Oh, hell. Another loophole through which we could drive a waffle truck.

Drie Fonteinen to Brew Again? And Other News.

You might think there is a limit to my ability to get Belgian beer scoops from Central American soil. You'd be exactly right. My friend Chuck Cook is exploiting that limit ruthlessly. But he's just doing what he always does: packing lots of info-gathering and photo-snapping into another brief jaunt through Beer Paradise.* Also look way down below for tips on ZBF weekend.

Today Cook reports that Drie Fonteinen master blender Armand Debelder is "likely" to start brewing his own lambic again. As I reported last January, Debelder decided to stop brewing his own lambic and re-focus on blending his famous geuzes. "I'm not brewing anymore. That's definite," he said. This was partly because of the expense, and partly because of his age. He is approaching 60 and brewing meant long, exerting work days. However, Cook reports that Debelder has hired an assistant, which appears to be the neat answer to that problem.

Also, geuze blenders use different lambics to achieve their final product, and Debelder had an exacting recipe for his house-made portion. The idea was to have Frank Boon duplicate the recipe especially for Drie Fonteinen, but that was never going to be an ideal solution.

Cook also reports that a lambic-oriented visitor's center will open in Pajottenland in mid-May. Cook says it will be 3 km from Beersel.

Now here I've really failed you, because it's right here in my notebook from last January: "2011 - Oude Geuze Visitors Center. In Alsemberg. For HORAL members. Four languages: Dutch, French, English, German. Some help from Flemish government." Just another one of those things that got lost in the move. Sorry about that.

After the bit about the Flemish government, my notes say that Debelder whistled and said, "They've got lots of money for that!" The part about HORAL members suggests that the center will showcase mainly Pajottenland brewers: Boon, De Cam, De Troch, Drie Fonteinen, Girardin, Hanssens, Lindemans, Oud Beersel and Timmermans. Note that Cantillon is not an HORAL member.

The center potentially will be an exciting place for beer travelers to visit. No doubt there will be lambics to taste and probably cheese for nibbling. Time will tell if it's a worthy substitute for a visit to Cantillon, an earthenware mug of kriekenlambic while admiring the finches at De Cam, or a Pajottenland salmon and vintage geuze at Drie Fonteinen's restaurant.

ZBF weekend: Lots of you are in Belgium for lots of activities. Be well to each other and spread those festival tokens around. Look here for my post on various happenings. Be aware that transit strikes will slow things down, but apparently not cripple them. Belgian railways are running normally. Brussels-area metro, trams and buses will be about two-thirds normal. The De Lijn buses might have issues.

But for all the main events, I think all you'd need is a train ticket and a good pair of shoes. Happy drinking, pilgrims.

*Yes, it stings a little. No worries. I'll treat the wound right away with homebrew and sunshine.

Lambic on Wheels and Wurst on a Coat Rack.

It's hard to choose my favorite thing about the Tour de Geuze yesterday.

Maybe it was all the great lambics. Maybe it was drinking the new Geuze Mega-Blend or the Timmermans Oude Gueuze. Maybe it was Armand Debelder in a bow tie. Maybe it was sausages on a coat rack. Maybe it was wisely bypassing the guided tours once we realized they were both long-winded and mostly in Dutch, and heading straight to the beer instead. Maybe it was that moment in the afternoon when you realize you're on your third brewery and you've still got two more to go. It certainly wasn't that moment in the evening when you realize your time at the last one is nearly up. Maybe it was nursing a daylong buzz and watching the Pajottenland villages roll by the bus window.

Or maybe it was just meeting so many other people who shared our passion for truly great beer.

No. I'm going with the sausages.

Tour de Gueuze and Other News to Insure You Against Great Thirst.

Still swamped. A nice problem to have. Meanwhile I have some lambic news for you.

First off, the Tour de Gueuze is set for Sunday, April 26. What sounds like a drunken bicycle race is in fact, theoretically at least, much safer. Instead of a bike you ride a bus around to a handful of lambic brewers and blenders in the Pajottenland region outside Brussels. This event only happens every other year. At this point six nine lambic makers plan to open their doors: Boon, De Cam, De Troch, Drie Fonteinen, Hanssens, Lindemans, Mort Subite, Oud Beersel and Timmermans. I'll share more details as they become available.

Also noteworthy: the café known as In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst – the Insurance Against Great Thirst – will be open that day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., four and a half hours longer than its usual opening time. This is so Tour-goers in the area can make their pilgrimage to perhaps the world's top lambic café. Across from the Eizeringen village church, this is a special little place that normally open only for Sunday mornings and funerals (don't do anything drastic... just go on a Sunday).

And: The Grote Dorst has added another event to your lambic calendar: The Day of the Kriek on June 6. The spotlight will be on Belgium's famous spontaneously fermented beer steeped in cherries. Krieks from nine breweries will be there, not all of them very traditional, but you'll be able to assemble a tasting of four choice samples. Sounds like a nice event for newcomers as well as enthusiasts.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Weekend of Spontaneous Fermentation on May 30 and 31 in Buggenhout. Probably the best lambic fest of the year. We're talking sheer quantity and quality here. Take the Woman's advice and bring your own blankets if you plan to crash in the horstel (part horse-riding school, part hostel). Believe me, I'll never hear the end of it.

Oh. And there's another Cantillon Public Brewing on March 7, same day that ZBF kicks off.

And I think that's really enough, don't you?