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Dorpstraat 67A Instagram: de.cam Employment 1 Production 350 hl (2020) Export sometimes Opening hours shop en pop-up bar : Sundays between 3 and 5 PM Visits appointment only Barrel mark yes |
 De Cam is an independent gueuze blendery in the Pajottenland. This sole proprietorship is run by Karel Goddeau. He is passionate about 'traditional lambic beers', which spontaneously refermented in the bottle. Traditional lambic beers are made with lambic wort that is brewed exclusively in winter and that is cooled exclusively in a coolship. Afterwards the wort ferments in wooden barrels. De Cam makes gueuze, which spontaneously re-ferments without adding any sugar or yeast cultures. De Cam is characterized by Brabant stubbornness: so-called modern wild beers, sour beers, or beers such as Geuze van het Vat are not welcome in De Cam. According to Karel it is a contradiction to make traditional Geuze with Lambic from just a single barrel. A Geuze is a blend of different lambics of 1, 2 and 3 or 4 years old from different casks (foeders). Geuze must spontaneously referment in the bottle. Each bottle of Geuze from De Cam has a natural cork and muselet. Karel is only selling his bottles of Geuze after they have undergone spontaneous refermentation in the Geuze blendery for at least one year. The bottles have a shelf life of 20 years. "Lambiek is the mother of all beers", says Karel Goddeau, "It is an age-old tradition of brewing and spontaneous fermentation, which is unique in the world". The Oude Cam is already mentioned in old documents of 1515 as "des Heeren Landcamme". 'Cam' is an old Dutch word for farm brewery, where the workers were paid with Lambiek or Faro. |
 Karel Goddeau graduated from the oldest brewery school in Ghent. He had already become acquainted with lambic during his studies and as a boy scout. Thanks to Armand Debelder and his father Gaston, Karel learned the craft of gueuze blending. At the time, this was considered unimportant at university. Now it is regarded as world class that they are trying to copy. However, the original cannot be matched. As a gueuze blender, Karel buys fresh wort from the four corners of the Pajottenland. Four brews that cooled down in coolships during the coldest frosty nights. The wort matures in 150-year-old 1000 liter casks from the famous Pilsner Urquell brewery. Karel also uses Jacques Selosse foeders from the Champagne region. Dozens of wild yeasts, including Brettanomyces, provide a natural antioxidant beer that has minimum shelf life of 20 years. Karel also brews himself in the small lambic brewery of 3 Fonteinen thanks to the excellent long friendship relationship. The wort ferments and matures in De Cam until Karel is convinced that the beer is flavoursome. De Oude Cam only produces traditional beers, which are refermented slowly and spontaneously. Karel Goddeau makes gueuze with lambic from 1, 3 and up to 5 years old and bottles the beer in bottles of 75 and 37.5 cl. The natural cork ensures a perfect seal and is a guarantee for the next 20 years (unlike a crown cork). 'Oude Geuze' is obtained by spontaneous refermentation in the bottle for at least 1 year. The entire process of brewing, fermenting and spontaneous refermentation can easily take three years, making it the most expensive beer. The taste of Geuze is so complex. It has a delicious aftertaste and the light oak touch. By adding Schaerbeek cherries, morello cherries or regional raspberries to lambic, a noble cherry or raspberry beer is obtained. When producing fruit beers, Karel adds about 1000 kg of fruit in its entirety with pits - so no fruit juice or aromatics - for about 10 months in 1500 liters of lambic. |
