ZWANZE DAY 2019 !

Saturday Sept 28

At last, this year it’s at Hopleaf!

—Tix on sale Aug 28 at 12:01 pm at https://zwanzeathopleaf.bpt.me

or search for Hopleaf on BrownPaperTickets.com.

—Keep checking here for more details and links!

Simultaneous Worldwide Tapping at 2pm Central Time, Saturday Sept 28.

Michael’s description of Zwanze Day and Week offerings is here: http://hopleafbar.com/Event/zwanze-day-and-zwanze-week-details/



Tickets are $50. The ticket gets you two tokens: one for the Zwanze beer, and the other for your choice of the other 5 Cantillons and other featured Belgians. And a T-shirt. And access to some other events during the week, TBA. The pours are 6oz.

The Zwanze token must be redeemed between 2 and 6pm. The other is usable until closing time.

Hopleaf opens at noon as usual. *There is no cover charge.*

There is a limit on how many you can buy: 2. They are will-call tickets. We require names of attendees at purchase, and will be matching IDs at the door when you receive your tokens.

NOTE: A difference from previous years!– Sorry, no bottle sharing, no outside beer nor bottles on the sidewalks. Please respect our neighboring residents and businesses.

5 other Cantillons and other special Belgian lambics, rarely if ever seen in these parts, will be available on draft and in bottles at discounted prices. Details about these (available on Zwanze Day and throughout our longer Zwanze Week celebration ) will be hopleaf.com. Please keep checking back, as many details are still being worked out. The other Cantillons will be tapped throughout the day, on a schedule.

We at Hopleaf are truly delighted to be able to offer Cantillon to our Chicago patrons again after all these years! We are designing a whole week of festivities leading up to Zwanze Day itself. Stay tuned!

Some notes from Jean-Pierre van Roy, on THIS YEAR’s BEER:

The beer for this year’s Zwanze was brewed in March 2016 and kegged January 26th 2018. Contrary to past Zwanze beers, this one is not the result of a special blend or the addition of a special fruit, but of a wholly unique brew. On March 1st 2016, we brewed a smoked Lambic using a blend of classic pilsner malt and smoked malt. Rather than taking the beer to an extreme, we looked instead to find a balance between the acidic character of Lambic and the woodiness of the smoked malt. The result is a fine Gueuze with the classic notes of a Cantillon, complemented by an elegant smokiness in the nose and on the palate.

THE IDEA BEHIND ZWANZE is to offer an opportunity for as many people as possible to try both rare and “regular” Cantillon lambics by giving them a set time and place where they’ll be able to find the beer at an approachable price. The brewery’s desire to have this be as inclusive as possible was a direct response to their limited releases ending up in the hands of a few geeks buying bottles for hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars each on the secondary market. They want more casual fans to be able to drink and enjoy the beer rather than only covet it. The Zwanze beer is different every year. There will be many other Cantillon beers and Lambics from other Belgian breweries, both on draft and in bottles.