On Ascension Day I met with John from blendery ‘t Pomphuizeke in Ghent. Enjoying an early afternoon public holiday beer at Dok 10, we chatted about how he got into the world of lambics and blending, his plans for the future, and how to start blending gueuze.
John has been blending his own beers since 2012 already. Always as a homebrewer, so you won’t find his beers in the shops (yet). John also organizes blending workshops and has participated multiple times in the home brewers market at Carnivale Brettanomyces.
How it started
John drank his first gueuze as a 17-year-old in a bar called ‘Waterhuis aan de Bierkant’ in Ghent, and he was immediately sold. The appeal of especially the flavors that are so characteristic of lambic beers and the fact that it is a 100% natural product could charm him the most. Years later he helped set up a local beer association where he started organizing visits to breweries, tastings, and even a beer festival. During one of the activities, he tasted a lambic for the first time. He then got interested in blending gueuze and attended a blending workshop at Oud Beersel. Soon after he bought all his equipment, including a €10 cork machine from a flea market he still uses today, so in 2015 ‘t Pomphuizeke was born. A few months later he attended Carnivale Brettanomyces for the first time. Since then he has been present every year.
What does one need to blend a gueuze?
Blending gueuze for almost ten years and organizing blending workshops himself now, John is the perfect person to ask what an aspiring home blender needs to get started. The answer is surprisingly easy, it’s not difficult to begin and the required budget is small. To blend and bottle gueuze at home all you need is a (plastic) barrel with faucet, bottles, corks, a cork machine, and of course lambic.
Experiments
If you take a look at John’s website, www.tpomphuizeke.be, you will see that John doesn’t only blend gueuze. He also experiments with different infusions of lambic, for example using coffee beans, lemons, or even chili peppers. His best experiment so far has been a lambic with black pepper. However, his personal favorite is a regular gueuze.
Brewing lambic?
John’s a blender, not a brewer. Meaning he doesn’t brew his own lambic but rather buys lambic from one of the lambic brewers here in Belgium. He’s not interested in brewing and is more interested in the blending part. In the future, he will focus more and more on the art of blending, so you will probably not see the crazy experiments he used to do before anymore.
Future of ‘t Pomphuizeke
I met John at a decisive moment as he was contemplating renting a work and storage space for his blendery and starting commercializing his brand. Of course, this would be very exciting, but it would also mean a lot of extra administrative work. When we met he didn’t make up his mind yet, but I can now announce that he took the plunge and his beers will be available around March 2024! With ‘t Pomphuizeke going commercial you’ll be able to buy his beers at selected bars, restaurants, and shops. Also, we can probably expect some collaborations with other breweries and blenderies in the future.
I would like to thank John again for meeting with me, answering all my questions, and even inspiring me to try blending my own gueuze soon too! More about that in the future here and on my Instagram.