Zwanze Day 2014 - A Sour Sensation

Saturday 20th September saw our second Zwanze day in six°north Aberdeen bar and proved that the thirst for sour beers in the city is definitely growing! The lovely people at Brasserie Cantillon were kind enough to include us again in this special day, with sour fans rejoicing!

To clarify, we were one of the lucky 52 bars in the world to be chosen to showcase this Lambic libation. "Cuvee Florian” named after Jean Van Roy’s son, and a birthday present of a barrel on his 18th birthday was 2014’s Zwanze beer. Such was the anticipation, ticket holders arrived a few hours prior to the 8pm worldwide serving time (9pm Brussels). This allowed our Zwanzeurs to sample some of Belgium’s finest sour beers, including four more from Cantillon (Rose de Gambrinus, Iris, Gueuze Bio and St Gilloise) and a rather unique single Foudre Rodenbach offering. These were all served using our mobile keg dispense machines, set up in the tasting room. The upstairs area soon filled up with a mass of sour beer fans, clutching their specially commissioned Cantillon/six°north glass and T-shirt, all eagerly awaiting the main event. Then came the Zwanze!

A beautifully complex blend of Iris Grand Cru (a 4-year old version of Iris) and Kriek (Cherry beer) that left everyone wanting more. Then more they duly received, leaving just enough in the keg for staff to sample and enjoy. With a crowd coming from far and wide, it was great to see everyone join together for the celebration. A lot of new friends were made over Cantillon’s finest brews and the atmosphere was great. The night did not finish there though...oh no...

As a special thank you to all who came to support the event we had a little something extra...

As a Belgian style brewery in the North East of Scotland we had always wanted to emulate the Lambic style. For a year and a half we have been ageing our own sour beers in barrels that formerly housed Rioja wine. So as a treat for these sour fans we released our own Auchenblae raspberry Framboise, which was smashing! It was a big hit with the revellers, many of whom stayed to get stuck into our vast Belgian beer selection and other UK sours we had put on to celebrate Zwanze Day. Undoubtedly there were a few sore heads and parched mouths in the morning but I’m sure they would agree it was all worth it for such a great beer! We look forward to Zwanze 2015, Cantillon C'est bon.