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THE MEAL TICKET INTERVIEW: Cantillon brewer Jean Van Roy
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
THE MEAL TICKET INTERVIEW: Cantillon brewer Jean Van Roy
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| via White Beer Travels |
| Jean Van Roy serving Cantillon |
Lambic fans who stood in the rain for a ticket to last night's Cantillon dinner at Monk's Caf� were well-rewarded for their soaking by the effusive presence of fourth-generation Cantillon brewer Jean Van Roy, whose mavericky brews are the point of obsession for drinkers of the obscure lambic style.
"Jean-Pierre Van Roy told me in 1987 he had 200 accounts in Brussels," Monk's owner Tom Peters told me. "By 1997, he had 20. America is the reason they survived. We get a full third of Belgium's lambic production, and we'd take more if they would give it to us."
Meal Ticket crashed the dinner to chat with Jean Van Roy about what makes lambic special, and what it's like to feel the love in Philadelphia on his first visit to the United States. (Learn the history and qualities of lambic beer here.)
Meal Ticket: When did you begin brewing at Cantillon?
Jean Van Roy: Well, do you mean when did I begin brewing alone, without my teacher? Seven years ago, but I have been working at the brewery since I was very very young. It is the brewery of my great-grandfather, and I began brewing with my father in 1989.
MT: Is lambic beer popular in Belgium?
JVR: No. It is not popular. Lambic is too special � it is the last beer to be made with spontaneous fermentation. It is a product totally apart � made from the natural yeasts of the air, aged in casks like wine ... it is something very special. Ninety-nine percent of beer in the market that is labeled "framboise" or "lambic" is not traditional. We are making something else.
MT: Why isn't lambic more popular?
JVR: Lambic is really for beer specialists. It is popular with beer lovers, who search for these things.� For classic beer drinkers, no. In Belgium or outside of Belgium. It is a taste totally apart. When you begin to learn this beer and you like it ... it becomes difficult to drink a beer with a sweet taste. We have customers who come to the brewery who say they don't like beer, but they love Cantillon. We have very good contacts with the wine world.
MT: That's very true. Don't tell Tom [Peters], but lambic has pretty much ruined me for beer. Many people who only drink wine are easy to convert to lambics. Where do you get the barrels that you age your beer in?
JVR: All our barrels are from France. They have been used, generally, two to five times for wine before they come to us. When we get them, we clean them very thoroughly, but a bit of liquid remains in the wood from the wine or cognac ... so the first time you use that barrel it produces a very special lambic, a very good one.
MT: Are there any beers here tonight that are especially interesting to you?
JVR: Ah, there is the Cuvee Monk's Gueuze. Tom came to Brussels in September and we chose together the lambics for this special blend, including a lambic with Amarillo hops. [Ed: This is the very hoppy lambic brewed by The Brett Pack during a visit to Cantillon. More on that here.]
MT: Yes, I heard your father did not approve of that very hoppy lambic.
JVR: We thought that the balance between hop and lambic was not perfect. But as a blend with classic lambic, such a blend made a beer with excellent balance.
MT: Cantillon has a huge following in Philadelphia. People here love your beers.
JVR:� It is incredible ... I cannot express the feeling here. There is nothing like it, even in Brussels.
MT: What do you think of Philadelphia?
JVR: It is a big city, yes? One million people?
MT: About that, yes.
JVR: It's very quiet here, even though it is a big city. I get a feeling here, that I also get in Brussels, which is of a village in a city.
MT: Are you visiting any other places on your trip?
JVR: Tomorrow we go to New York. People here have been telling me it will be something else.
RELATED:
- Lambic: The complex and misunderstood teenager of the beer world [17dec08]
- BREW REVUE: Monk's single-barrel Cantillon Kriek [19dec08]
- Dining Immaturely with The Brett Pack at Monk's Caf� [12mar09]
[...] Jean Van Roy of Cantillon at Tria Rittenhouse (123 S. 18th St.) from 5 to 6 p.m. Check out our April ‘09 Q&A with the dude to help you develop some sweet questions. Not sure if you heard, but Philly Beer Week starts [...]
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