2024 Zwanze Day in Sydney
Since 1900, Cantillon has gained an international reputation for crafting traditional lambics. Lambic styles include gueuze, kriek, lambic, and framboise which are all are fermented through exposure to wild yeasts and bacteria.
Traditionally, Lambics were brewed using a strange mash called turbid mashing and old oxidized hops. They are fermented in wood instead of steel after being allowed to sit open to the air for a night so that the local microflora populates the wort
Source: Kegerator.com
Cantillion’s coolship, where the wild fermentation happens, is nestled in the rafters.
Brewmaster and 5th generation owner, Jean Van Roy, started Zwanze Day in 2008, celebrating more experimental small-batch beers. The first bottling was a special lambic with rhubarb added. In 2011. the Zwanze release party included 22 locations around the world. In 2024 the celebration has grown to 60 locations from 18 countries. (Find all 2024 locations here) .
“Zwanze”?
What does ‘zwanze’ mean anyway? The word, Flemish in origin, describes a ‘bawdy, sense of humour unique to Brussels which can be ‘sometimes impenetrable to outsiders’. (Source: Brussels Beer City)
…essentially [it] means a self-deprecating type of humor that’s typified by sharp-edged, playful jokes, usually good-natured. It’s said that this type of humor has become “a characteristic, defining trait” of the Flemish themselves, and for some a way of life. A “zwanze” is a joke, a “zwanzer” a joker. Source: Brookston Beer Bulletin
This playful quintessentially Brussels humour typifies the unorthodox brewing for the Zwanze offerings. Various falvors over the years have included rhubarb (2008), ‘surrealist’ stout (2015), semi-fermented blue-green tea (2017) and beetroot (2020).
And for the record, it is pronounced “zwahnz,”, not “zwahn-zee”.
Zwanze 2024
The Zwanze Day beer changes every year. Zwanze 2024 (or ‘Zwanze 2024 - MMXXIV’ as you’ll find it on Untappd) is a blend of two-year-old Lambic and sea lettuce.
…The algae we used in our blend was cultivated by our friend Sylvain to feed his abalone, which he raises in the north of the Finistère, in the Aber Wrach estuary.The combination of exotic fruit and iodized notes from the sea lettuce with the Lambic make this Zwanze a very original beer. We had bottles of Gueuze immersed in abalone crates in December 2022…The beer nestled at a depth of 10 meters among Sylvain’s little creatures is delicate, clearer, and has a very fine carbonation. The abalone also seem to appreciate it as well
Source: Brasserie Cantillion Facebook page
In Australia, we are lucky enough to have two locations; Wildflower Brewing and Blending in Sydney and Belgian Beer Café in Perth. Back in April, Wildflower offered fans on their mailing list an opportunity to enter a lottery to come along to share in not only the Zwanze Day 2024 brew, but also other drops from Cantillon.
On this rainy Saturday afternoon Wildflower opened their doors at 12:00 and started popping those corks. The beer, the the food and the brilliant Wildflower Crew made the day very special for all of us who were lucky enough to score one of those coveted places.
Bottles were limited, so we only got to try one glass each of the Zwanze 2024 brew this year. To be honest, it was pretty out there so one was more than enough. Kelpy, salty and something close to iodine hits you hard on the nose, although the flavour is a lot milder in the mouth than the aroma would suggest. A unique experience to be sure — but we were very happy to tuck into some more familiar bottles of Cantillon Gueuze, Saint Lamvinus and Kriek afterwards.
