Double Hit for Boon Brewery at World Beer Cup 2010

PRESS RELEASE No fewer than 3330 beers, 642 breweries, and 44 countries participated in the World Beer Cup 2010 in Chicago (USA). Belgian brewers won four gold and three silver medals. Boon Brewery was the only Belgian brewery to bring home two awards. The Geuze Mariage Parfait came first in the `Belgian-Style Sour Ale’ category, and the Oude Geuze Boon took the silver medal. The World Beer Cup is one of the world’s most important beer competitions, and in beer circles is often referred to as the `Olympics of the beer sector'. This international competition is held only every two years. 107 of the 3330 beers featured in the 8th edition of the World Beer Cup were from Belgium, and 7 of them received awards. Boon won a gold medal in 2004 and in 2008. This year, both first and second place in the ‘Belgian-Style Sour Ale’ category went to this traditional lambic brewery. Frank Boon is very proud that his Geuze Mariage Parfait and his Oude Geuze were awarded a gold and silver medal, respectively: “When one enters such a prestigious international competition, one hopes that one can take home one of the awards. This year, the competition was particularly heavy. The fact that our gueuzes took first and second place comes as a pleasant surprise”. Boon uses an exclusively self-brewed lambic for its Oude Geuze. The blend is 90% soft lambic of at least 18 months, 5% full-character, three-year-old lambic, and 5% very young lambic. For the production of the Geuze Mariage Parfait, only three-year-old lambic is used. Both the Oude Geuze Boon and the Geuze Mariage Parfait can easily age up to 20 years. www.boon.be TASTING NOTES Oude Geuze Boon is a delightfully dry, slightly acid gueuze. It has the fine acidity of a white chardonnay wine, the phenolic, dry grain character of a fine whisky, and the full taste and foam collar of a nice beer. The vanilla zest and the hint of clove derive from the exclusive use of oak barrels. The 75cl bottles of Oude Geuze Boon, which won the silver medal at the World Beer Cup 2010, were bottled on 22 April 2009 (and are best consumed before 22 April 2029). The Geuze Mariage Parfait was brewed in 2005 and bottled in September 2008. Bottles with these dates are still available. * * * Frank Boon took his first steps in the lambic world in 1975 as a gueuze blender and a regional beer merchant in the city of Halle. In 1977, he took over the gueuze blender `R. the Vits' in Lembeek, completely modernizing the out-dated company. With the construction of a brewing room, the gueuze blender became a lambic brewer. Frank Boon first brewed his own lambic on 17 October 1990. Over a period of 20 years, production rose from 450 hl to 11,300 hl (2009). With more than 1,000,000 litres of lambic, Boon Brewery now has the world’s largest stock of lambic in oak barrels. Frank Boon (middle) and his employees, in front of some of their 113 large oak barrels, with their two award certificates from the World Beer Cup 2010.