Brussels Gueuze Museum Opens at Cantillon

In 1978, Jean-Pierre Van Roy and Cantillon established the Brussels Gueuze Museum inside the family’s working brewery in Anderlecht. Conceived as a living museum, it allowed visitors to encounter traditional Lambic production where it was still practiced, among Cantillon’s brewing equipment, copper vessels, wooden barrels, bottles, and historic brewery buildings. The museum opened during a difficult period for traditional Lambic, when declining demand, brewery closures, and the popularity of sweetened products threatened the older beer culture of Brussels and its surrounding region. By presenting spontaneous fermentation, barrel maturation, fruit-Lambic production, and the blending of Lambics into Gueuze directly to the public, the museum helped Cantillon remain independent and established the brewery as an important guardian and interpreter of Brussels Lambic heritage.