Belgian beer news by email
CRAFT BREW NEWS
vol 2, no 29 June 17, 2011
Weekly News, Numbers and More About the Craft Beer World
Published by Beer Marketer’s INSIGHTS, Inc.
Gerry Khermouch just forwarded us this story which he penned for Beer Marketer’s INSIGHT. We sat down together over lunch a few weeks back at Fish Bar in Chicago (where you find Saison Dupont on tap) to discuss the import sector with this ace veteran reporter on the beer scene:
Pioneering Importer Vanberg & DeWulf Reinvents Biz as Belgian Beer Styles Grow Familiar
Along with Charles Finkel of Seattle’s Merchant du Vin, Don Feinberg and Wendy Littlefield can claim to be pioneers over the past 3 decades in bringing awareness of Belgium’s rich beer heritage to American palates. They brought in Duvel, now viewed as classic, and struck relationship with Dupont about a month before family planned to discontinue brewing Saison Dupont, now viewed globally as yardstick for style. The couple, who over years have moved their Vanberg & DeWulf import biz from New York to Cooperstown (where they established and for a while operated Belgian-style Ommegang brewery) and then to Chicago, will celebrate their 30th anniversary as Belgian beer importers and evangelists on Nov 15 – King’s Day in Belgium. “But the year-long salute to us starts now,” Wendy grinned during recent visit by CBN in Chicago.
Yet if Don and Wendy are due a victory lap these days, they’re anything but complacent. Indeed, recent high profile of Belgian styles in US is forcing them to reinvent biz, in ways that illuminate surprising cross currents in global beer biz. In contrast to early days, when their role was simply to seek out the best example of every indigenous Belgian style and bring it into US, lately they’ve had to adopt more assertive role, guiding established Belgian brewers in what to brew and encouraging new blood. And they’ve finally had to turn their gaze beyond Belgium and France to craft frontiers like Italy, from whose Tuscany region they soon will bring in a Belgian-influenced brew called Contessa, their first from that country.
“When we started, we were students, we saw something that doesn’t exist” in US, recalled Don. “Now it’s a question of how to keep Belgium on its toes,” when creative energy is in US, Italy and Scandinavia. When V&D got started, he noted, 75% of Belgian beer was consumed domestically and 25% exported; now that ratio has reversed. That healthy-seeming trend disguises fact that Belgium’s beer scene is stagnant. “There’s a lot of mediocre stuff in Belgium today,” Feinberg said. “The issue is that Belgian beer has been totally universalized. It’s no longer weird: everyone does a tripel or a saison. They’re stuck between a rock and a hard place because they’re tradition-bound,” just like French vintners leapfrogged by New World creativity.
So Feinberg and Littlefield have taken it upon themselves to inject creativity into brewing there, in intriguing ways just turning up in US. Realizing that kombucha fermented tea that’s burgeoning in US employs similar Brettanomyces yeast to Belgian lambic ales, couple teamed with Wambeek brewer to create hybrid item called Lambrucha for US. “Two great yeast cultures, one great drink,” is how it’s positioned. At Dupont, which has offered no dark beers, they reached into vault to rediscover recipe for Monk’s Stout, not produced for 55 years. Given brewery’s yeast monoculture, the stout emerged with little of full body or sweetness associated with style, almost like quenching iced coffee, creating new flavor experience that at same time is steeped in past. And couple has moved aggressively into blending base lambics, creating their own Lambickx brand (from “Vanberg & Famille”) that promises both reliability but limitless variability depending on producer, region, kind of keg. They’ve lined up 2 production partners so far.
Not least, they’re cultivating new talent such as Anne-Catherine Dilewyns, 24-yr-old dynamo behind recently launched Brouwerij Dilewyns. Anne-Catherine, who decided to make a biz out of her dad’s homebrewing hobby, taught herself brewing and Italian (to communicate with brewery installation crew) and has turned heads with proprietary blend of Vicardin Tripel and Girardin Gueuze. When her beer was named beer-of-month at group of 41 bars in Holland, she made personal visit to each in just 4 days. That’s kind of energy V&D believe Belgium sorely needs. “For me, she’s the prototype for the future of Belgian brewing,” said Don. “She’s young, aggressive, knows that exports are vital – but plumbs her heritage.”
Thanks Gerry for a fun afternoon and an astute summary of a lengthy conversation!
