History of Brouwerij Boon

Since 1975, Boon Brewery has been owned and run by Frank Boon, one of the pioneers of the authentic lambic and gueuze revival. But the first signs of the brewery date back to 1680, as a farm-brewery and distillery in the village of Lembeek. In 1860 Louis Paul bought the brewery to brew only lambic and faro. From 1875, he began bottling gueuze lambic.

In 1898, Pierre Troch bought the brewery. But after the economic crisis of 1927, it came into the hands of Joseph De Vits. His son, Rene is renowned for the production of soft and fine gueuze lambic. As René De Vits had no children, he sold the brewery to Frank Boon in 1978. After purchasing brewing equipment and barrels from Jean Van Malder in 1986, Boon was on his way to  creating his own brew house.

Frank Boon

Frank Boon has always had a passion for geuze and lambic. Before owning his own brewery, he and his friends would drive around the Belgian countryside to scour for local beers. During those beer hunts, Frank met René De Vits, a beer blender from Lembeek who sold geuze and lambic (and later sold his brewery to Frank). Frank and friends socialized and drank in a local clubhouse where they cellared the special beers they bought. It was in that cellar that Frank began experimenting, producing his own faro and making his first attempts to blend lambic into geuze.

After completing military service in 1975, Frank registered a business and started blending his own geuze in the cellar of a former sugar factory while simultaneously marketing and selling local beers. The beer selling business was necessary to provide financial support to his geuze blending operation, as it takes several years for geuze to age and be ready to sell. At one point, Frank was driving around picking up beer from local brewers to sell, working and blending in his own cellar and also delivering those specialty beers out to cafes. His own beers were bottled in empty bottles he collected from restaurants and cafes.