Moeder Lambic Fontainas

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DSC_0016It surely was beery last weekend, and we hope you had the opportunity to visit one or more of the beer festivals. One of the smaller festivals — if you can even consider it a beer festival instead of just a themed weekend — was the Italian Beer Weekend at Moeder Lambic Fontainas. It’s the kind of weekend they organize on a regular basis, featuring a different country every time. But the bar is well worth visiting on normal days as well!

DSC_0015It is quite unusual to discuss two venues from the same ‘chain’, and we won’t make a habit out of it, but in the case of Moeder Lambic, the difference is big enough to warrant a separate blog post. As we’ve discussed Moeder Lambic Original in Saint-Gilles on these pages before, you know a little bit about the history of these bars already.

When it opened in 2009, Moeder Lambic Fontainas was very different from the Original: a central location, lots of space, a very modern interior, but most importantly, it had 46 pumps — 40 normal kegs and 6 hand-pumped casks — right from the start. Moeder Lambic Fontainas suffers from the same pouring technique defects as the original: multiple pours, tap spout in beer, etc. But here as well, they make up for this with their vast and ever-changing offering of beers from Belgium and all over the world.

DSC_0023The bottle list mainly consists of big (75 cl) bottles, which can be a bit challenging when you’re visiting the bar alone, unless you’re very thirsty. Speaking about big bottles: unfortunately no growler fills in this Moeder Lambic (yet)!

After frequenting the bar for a while, you’ll notice some breweries return to the guest beer list quite often, and again when that brewery’s country is the theme for the week or weekend. Not a problem of course, since the beers they bring to the table are usually excellent, but if you like to try as many different beers as possible, you might want to skip the headliners of those breweries during those events, and drink them when they return on a normal day. It doesn’t make any difference in price, since Moeder doesn’t use smaller glasses and/or lower prices during those ‘festivals’ anyway.

DSC_0005The Original recently added lots of beer pumps and seating space, catching up with their younger sibling, but one thing Moeder Lambic Fontainas still has to offer that Original doesn’t, is its huge terrace. The area under the custom made wrought-iron roof was quite impressive already, but since the city centre became more and more car free, the terrace grew even further, onto the street and the Place Fontainas itself.

The food menu at Fontainas still seems to be a little more extensive, serving — on top of the usual offering of sausages, cheeses and plats mixtes — some quiches and salads.

By the way, there’s one event here every year you should look out for, if you like Cantillon beers: Zwanze Day, this year on October 1st. It’s when the famous lambic brewery and gueuze blender proposes their yearly experimental brew. It’s a worldwide event, taking place in selected bars all over the world (only 4 in Belgium, 2 of them the Moeders), but it’s usually Moeder Lambic Fontainas where head brewer Van Roy is present himself, to propose the beer and pour the first glasses. You can — and should — order your Zwanze 2016 weeks in advance, but there will be plenty of other Cantillon beers available that evening.

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tl;dr

Beers

  • 40 keg pumps and 6 cask pumps, Belgian and foreign beers
  • Nice selection of 75 cl bottles

Bites

  • Many different sausages, cold cuts and cheeses
  • Quiches & salads

 

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What have people been drinking here recently?