Boon, Lembeek

The history of Brouwerij Boon as a lambic producer starts around 1978 when founder and current owner Frank Boon purchased the De Vits brewery, café, and geuzestekerij when Rene De Vits and his sister Jeanne decided to retire. Previously, Frank had been receiving deliveries of De Vits lambic for a local youth club to which he belonged and where he began experimenting with creating faro and blending the various lambics into geuze. 

In order to continue blending lambics, Frank Boon also became a beer distributor for local brands. By 1981, Boon purchased a bankrupted factory in the center of Lembeek and moved the distributorship onto the site leaving more room for the blending business at the Hondzocht location. By 1986, the site in the center of Lembeek had become home to an automatic bottling plant, a boiling kettle, and a bottle cellar.

In 1988, Frank Boon purchased a mash tun and two kettles, thus completing the original Boon brewhouse. The first batch of Boon lambic was brewed in fall 1990.

The importance of Brouwerij Boon and Frank Boon in the lambic community in Belgium cannot be understated. The size of Boon’s infrastructure means that Frank has been able to help smaller lambic brewers and blenders in many ways. Boon lambic is also a principle component in many gueuze blends.