EP049 | Blending Lambic at the Sollenberg Crossroads

Photos by Cliff Lucas This editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS as part of the “Common Place” series of podcasts.  his Lambic blendery Het Boerenerf, Senne Eylenbosch saved his father’s farm, discovered his own identity, and began the next chapter in his family’s storied Lambic heritage. You’d be forgiven for thinking Senne’s twin obsessions—Lambic and stag beetles—had little in common. But both are indigenous to the valley in which he grew up. The beetles, the largest in Belgium, live in oak in the same way the spontaneously fermented wheat beer does. They have, just like Lambic, faced the very real threat of extinction, but have in recent years staged a revival. And like Lambic, the stag beetle is resilient (the males use their mandibles to fight for females and for food); it’s slow-moving, because of its oversized mandibles; and it’s fragile (they live for only three to five years, more or less the time it takes to produce an Oude Geuze).  When Senne Eylenbosch is talking—and as you’ll hear, Senne Eylenbosch likes to talk—his musings on stag beetle conservation and the maturation of Lambic could easily be interchanged. “Don’t touch it,” he says multiple times about the stag beetle. “Don’t touch it,” he says multiple times when discussing Lambic. He talks about patience. He talks about respect. He talks about nature. “Don’t touch it,” he says, again and again. In this discussion, Senne and I talked about the things he learned working at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, how he’s conflicted about his family’s brewing heritage, how he blends the way he does, how he feels about not being able to use his family name in his business, and where he sees his place in the Lambic ecosystem. Sit back, listen, and enjoy our conversation with Senne Eylenbosch of the Lambic blendery Het Boerenerf. *