Program

A first peek at this years talks, tastings and workshops.

Uytzet– Janos De Baets
Uytzet, a nearly forgotten beer style from 18th century Ghent. Janos De Baets spent the last year researching this bitter, amber colored beer style and is amazed by his daily new discoveries and is obviously trying to recreate it.

Eubayanus – Willem van Waesberge
The discovery of Eubayanus in the Patagonian forest by Diego Libkind led to the deliberate introduction of a wild yeast into an industrial brewery. In the talk he will look back at the practical challenges of getting the Eubayanus ‘to behave’ like a lager yeast. Although Eubayanus had given quite some genetically based capabilities to lager yeast, it is quite different and is not at all adapted to the food we are offering in a brew. I will share its genetics and adaptation to a controlled environment and our insights in how you could deal with wild, ‘badly behaving’ yeast

Tommie Sjef – Tasting Session
While Tommie and Carnivale go way back, it has been too long since we could welcome him on the fest. Now he’s back.

Making wine for my community – Wijngaard Dassemus and Adam Huss
Inspired on a talk ab out being a producer of drinks in your local community. Community as in the wider term for the land and species. Main topics to cover are terroir, piwi, sustainable/regen, global warming and perhaps post-humanism. This all with the purpose to guide producers holistically in their decisions with respect to drinks and fermentation.

Saison – Yvan De Baets
Yvan De Baets, cofounder and head brewer at the Brasserie de la Senne in Brussels, has been researching (and brewing) saison for more than two decades. He has argued that “yeast is the biggest myth about saison.” We asked him to elaborate.

Orval tasting – Arvid Bergström
A guided tasting trough several years of aged Orval, accompanied with both technical background and good storytelling.

Blending & tasting – h. ertie
The famous and infamous h.ertie performing a four hour long lambic blending session in his distict style, if you know you know.

The modern history of lambic – Frank Boon
It is 50 years since Frank Boon started the Brouwerij Boon and it is time to look back, starting with the decline of the style in the 60s, the revival of Belgian beer in the 70s, and will work his way to the present times.

A Family of Farmhouse Yeasts – Richard Preiss
Modern yeast serves as a living record that documents the flavour and functional preferences of brewers over time and reveals how yeast has evolved to accommodate brewing methods. By analyzing the genomes of yeasts, scientists can contribute to the knowledge base of brewing history. Examples include identifying the timeline of the origin of lager yeast, differentiating cultural flavour preferences on the basis of the presence/absence of phenolic off-flavour, and the discovery that farmhouse and industrial brewing yeasts evolved separately from each other over at least the last 100 years. In this session you will learn what makes farmhouse yeast different from commercial yeast, and taste examples in a split batch fermentation.

The Burton Union system – Gareth Young
The Burton Union System, a fascinating artifact in British brewing, made the news last year after Marstons Brewery decided to ditch theirs in favor of more modern brewing and fermentation techniques. They got saved and some of them ended up in Scotland at Epochal Barel fermented Ales. But what on earth are these things?

Lambic and vinegar – Brasserie Cantillon & Vinaigrerie Saint-Odile
Florian at Cantillon and Daphne at Saint Odile teaming up with a presentation/workshop making vinegar with lambics and obviously compare the produce.

Grodziskie: history, revival and release – Krzysztof Panek & Marcin Ostajewski
Light, bottle fermented, oak smoked wheat ale, which cannot be called Polish champa*ne. Short history of the style, it’s commercial demise, revival of the original brewery and release of brewing technology and ingredients to public. Good beer and bad jokes included.

Aged Lambic tasting – Dennis Vansant (lambic.info)
They say aging beer is a gamble. According to Dennis this is not completely true. Of course some beers are better suited for aging than others, en Dennis swears from here to Sunday that Geuze and other lambic-based beers are the only styles that truly benefit from long cellaring.
He is coming over to prove it, filling no less then 10 glasses, in age going back as far as 1963, while deep diving in the history, explaining commercial choices breweries made back then as much as they do now, driven by a constantly changing market.

The Gaia Concept – Aiden Jönsson
Take a sip of beer and you will notice aromas and flavors that remind you of the world around you. Some of these play crucial roles in our physical environment by interacting with the atmosphere, oceans, and geology. We will explore some of the ways common compounds in beer reflect natural processes in our environment and climate, and how life could have evolved to use those compounds to regulate the environment to its benefit in Gaian ways

Workshop lambic blending – John Versyck (‘t Pomphuizeke)
Due to great success in previous years, John Versyck from ‘t Pomphuizeke will do a workshop lambic blending. Going through the components of several years of aged lambic and resulting in a bottle to take home for the much needed refermentation.

Makgeolli Workshop – Brouwerij Gevel
During this workshop, Brouwerij Gevel will lead you through the history of Korean makgeolli and its siblings. Participants will be brewing their own batch of Makgeolli (approximately 1L) using the provided ingredients and tools. This ricey session also includes a tasting, of course.

Oxygen in the brewing process – Lauren Torres
Oxygen, both loved and hated by brewers. Lauren Torres will guide us through the benefits and hindrance of O2. From germinating to yeast growth and from oxidation to haziness. Bottom line might be; There is no fire without oxygen. Anf then there is packaging.

From Field to Foam: The Science Behind Better Beer – Steven Simmonds
Beer has been brewed for millennia, yet our understanding of it remains as hazy as a New England IPA. Unlocking the future of brewing—whether through more sustainable practices or better-tasting non-alcoholic beers—depends on understanding the complex biochemistry behind the process. In this talk, KU Leuven researcher Steven Simmonds delves into the latest breakthroughs in brewing science, from the barley in the field to the foam in your glass. This cutting-edge research is redefining how we think about the humble barley kernel and why its chemistry holds the key to solving the challenges facing brewers today.

The Beverages at Noma – Mees List
Fermentation is one of the main pillars at restaurant noma in Copenhagen. Head sommelier Mees List (who is originally from Amsterdam) speaks about her beverage program and guides you along some of the drinks made and served at the restaurant, from a Swedish lambic style beer made with danish grapeskins, to a wild yeast sake from Tottori, naturally processed Ethiopian coffee, lacto fermented tea and – if it survives the plane trip without exploding- a secondary fermented honey saffron kombucha. Plus, what to do with wine that is not good anymore. (Make vermouth.)

Tannins in cider – Roberto Eranomele
An indepth discussion on Polyphenols and Tannins in alcoholic beverages: the science, flavour, and tradition.

The Soul of the Barrel: Where Wine and Beer Meet – Julie Hoch (Hopfengrund)
At Hopfengrund, we create wild, spontaneously fermented beers with biodynamically self-grown fruits, grapes, grains, herbs, and hops — all hand-harvested and slowly matured in wooden barrels. Christoph Hoch’s biodynamic wines follow the same principle: no additives, no shortcuts — just trust in the barrels, guided by today’s microbiological knowledge.
Where wine and beer meet, we believe fermentation is more than chemistry — it’s culture. Each barrel holds untamed nature and quiet knowledge — a living space where time, microbes, and intuition shape every drop.
Julie Hoch will share insights into the influence of barrels and the quiet magic of fermentation within wood. She’ll explain why sourcing barrels directly from winemakers makes all the difference, and how slow, natural processes shape the soul of both, beer and wine.
Fermentation, after all, is not just a process — it’s a conversation between place, time, and vessel.
Some say it’s just wood. We say: it’s wild wisdom. Also have a look at this wood barrel documentary.

Vitiforestry for the future – Nicolas (Triebwork)
An in depth look into what we have to adress to make World class wines in a futurproof and sustainable way. Climate change, changing markets and many more problems is what all framers face. We at Staffelter Hof organic winery have started to put years of planning and thinking about these concerns into practice. Nicolas will present you how they came up with their concept of sustainable viticulture and which path Staffelter Hof winery is taking.
We will look into their plans of Vitiforestry, animal grazing in the vinyards and the use of hybrid grape varieties and how these strategies interconnect with each other.

Sake: Parameters for another fermentation – Duitse Jan (Sake Sip)
Sake is often introduced with polite reverence, but this talk skips the polite and goes straight for the ferment. From fermentation mechanics to big-picture intent, this is a detailed step-by-step dive into the techical aspects of brewing (Japanese) sake —not just how it’s made, but why it’s made that way, and how every step, from rice polishing and washing, koji inoculation, semi-solid mash parallel (ambient) fermentation and pressing, is a decision (and lever) shaping the final flavour.

We’ll talk koji, kobo, namazake and kimoto; we’ll unpack multiple parallel fermentation and ask why they’re so different from what beer and wine folks are used to. And we’ll taste: from unpressed Doburoku of Nondo or Ine to Agave to the juicy aroma of Nabeshima, the wild funk of Terada Honke, the artistry of Fukucho, elegance of Gozenshu and the amino acid-heavy boldness of eg. Tamagawa and Kenbishi. Expect a few surprises! Categories like junmai or ginjo will be questioned (or gently dismantled), alcohol and water additions discussed, and new ways of thinking about sake will be offered—based on intent, texture, flavours and fermentation philosophies.

Small-scale Cideria challenges – Cideria Jara. Frantisek
Cidrerie Jara or Kvasírna Jara is a commercial project focused on traditional and natural way of production, sale and promotion of high quality cider and related products, ran by František Apfelbeck. He will talk through his total process of natural fermented cider. Obviously production, but also the economics, and his deep thoughts about how to make an keep his hard fought for produce affordable for a broad audience.