Historic brewing region
Pajottenland
The area south-west of Brussels, in the Senne valley, where spontaneous fermentation survived continuously and lambic is made.
In Belgium.
Why it matters to beer
Lambic production depends on inoculation from ambient microflora in open coolships, followed by one to three years of maturation in wood. The Pajottenland is the only place where this practice persisted unbroken into the modern era.
Styles from here
- Lambic
Spontaneously fermented Belgian wheat beer, matured in oak for years — funky, acidic, dry and unlike any other beer.
- Gueuze
A blend of young and old lambic, refermented in bottle — intensely complex, bone dry and Champagne-like in its carbonation.
- Fruit lambic
Lambic refermented on whole fruit — traditionally sour cherry or raspberry — producing a dry, tart, intensely fruity beer.
Beers brewed here
- 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze
A blended gueuze from a house that spent most of its history blending other brewers’ lambic rather than making its own.
- Boon Oude Geuze
A traditional blended gueuze — bone dry, sharply acidic, funky and enormously carbonated — and one of the most approachable entries to lambic.
- Boon Oude Lambiek
Unblended lambic sold as it comes from the barrel — still, sharply acidic and the raw material every gueuze is made from.
- Cantillon Classic Gueuze
A Brussels gueuze made entirely from spontaneously fermented lambic and left unsweetened.
- Cantillon Rosé de Gambrinus
A raspberry lambic with no added sugar, and the clearest demonstration that fruit beer need not be sweet.
- Lindemans Kriek
A sweetened cherry lambic, and the form in which most drinkers outside Belgium first meet the tradition.
Breweries
3 Fonteinen · Brouwerij Boon · Brouwerij Lindemans · Cantillon
Elsewhere in the country
Last reviewed 2026-08-15.