Re: Lambic under attack--an update

Since I last posted regarding this a lot of ground has been covered. The consumer organization in Belgium that was created after the demise of OBP...Zythos is more involved than first thought. I will try to summarize below. 1. First and foremost in Zythos opinion is that it really comes down to the brewers themselves. If they don't want or are not willing to except help from outside help why should Zythos bother??? This was all too recentlyt witnessed by the closure of Oud Beersel. Henri Vandervelden(?) absolutely refused help... 2. Apparently the lambic brewers should have quite a long time ago written their procedures down as a group and had some kind of exemption approved by EU food safety personnel in Belgium. This wasn't done and this current set of actions is the result. Apparently the better part of this is in the works but it didn't get started until De Troch had their license pulled and Timmermans have theirs threatened. 3. France's roquefort producers in particular took time to have their procedures documented and got the exemption. I think what happened in Belgium was termed 'typically Belgian' in waiting until it's basically too late to affect much change... Not as bad as it looked at first but it's still a wait and see kind of thing at the moment. Some very notable organizations have stayted out of the fray. Confederation of Belgian Brewers underwritten by the likes of Interbrew and Alken Maes which own their own lambic breweries have quiet on the matter. Which looks like a ploy to kill off the tiny independents while protecting their own interests... More later as I learn about it as it happens... Todd Ashman Al Korzonas <korz(a)XNET.COM> wrote: Todd-- Perhaps you could take the information you posted here, along with Bob's addresses and phone numbers of the Belgian Bureau of Tourism and Consulate, and post something short to the Homebrew Digest and the Historical Beer mailing list? There's strength in numbers. I forwarded some of the text of your emails to a person at the Belgian Consulate and he said that he will champion this with his government. He said he doesn't drink beer, but he does drink Lambic and Rodenbach Grand Cru (sounds kind of like Jeff except for the not drinking beer part). Al.