PASSION FOR THE LAMBIC STYLE IN QUEENS, NEW YORK
In the beginning of last October, numerous sources of media shared news that have had a great impact on the craft beer field: after years of working as a gypsy brewery, Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø’s Evil Twin Brewing opened its own brewery and tap room in the Ridgewood neighborhood, Queens (New York).
Even the prestigious Forbes magazine decided to publish an extensive article on this event, which suggests the media magnitude of the aforementioned opening.
On the day of the inauguration of Evil Twing Brewing New York, in a Barrel Room full to its brim, the documentary “Lambic: About Time & Passion” by Dani Ruiz was presented for the first time in the United States. And honestly, to see how a documentary that has been self-produced by Dani himself, triumphs across the pond in such an emblematic scenario and, on such a significant day, is something quite thrilling.
Since its premiere at the last edition of the Barcelona Beer Festival, the documentary has been seen in various cities and festivals around Spain and Europe. And (update abril 2020) it is now available on Vimeo On Demand.
DANI RUIZ, A LOVE STORY FOR BEER
Thanks to a friendly conversation with Dani Ruiz, we have been able to get a little closer to his own story and find out where his fondness for craft beer stems from. And the first thing we have been able to verify is that we are not talking about an upstart, but rather the opposite.
In order to dive deeper into this we have to go back to 1999, the year in which Dani decided to travel from Pamplona to Barcelona to study filmmaking.
Through a classmate, he met Guillem Laporta, who at that time ran an association in the Poble Sec neighborhood which was called Humulus Lupulus. This association had been founded in 1996 by other remarkable people in the Barcelona beer scene such as Salva Marimon, Alex Camacho and Steve Huxley. According to Dani himself, “in the bar they had on Poeta Cabañas, they brewed, served imported beer they had brought from other European countries, and opened every evening until late. That's where I tried my first IPA and got hooked on craft beer.”
After the closure of the Humulus Lupulus, the members dispersed and began to open their own beer-related businesses. Some of them, among others Dani, chose to continue being mere consumers and follow Guillem Laporta and Ruben Zurita, who opened the first specialized craft beer bar in Barcelona: La Cerveteca.
Dani has very fond memories of that time, such as the baptism of his daughter: “It was in 2008, when Steve Huxley was already working at La Cerveteca, and had just published his book “Poesía Líquida.” Steve prepared a “beer mass" on a Sunday, which was accompanied with a barrel of Brasserie de la Senne - Zinne Bir. It was a great party.”
After several projects related to his career, he decided to focus on beer and start CerveTV in 2011. A year later, he made the official video for the first Barcelona Beer Festival: “That first year of the festival was a fantastic meeting between many people with great energy to do all kinds of things in the world of craft beer. We got to know each other and continued with our projects. Many collaborations emerged from it.”
Dani still manages CerveTV today. But he also has other projects, such as the Brew Home beer association that he operates with Oh My Beer and Family Beer, and from where they offer brewing workshops and tastings. In addition to these, “we also make our own home brewed beer and invite alumni to brew with us. At the moment we have been open for five years and it is working in a self-governed manner. We don't receive salaries from it, we basically just cover expenses.”
Dani Ruiz's most recent project is from the year 2018, with the name “La Salvatge”. It is a "Gypsy Blendery" in collaboration with the team at Cervesería La Rovira: "We buy wort and ferment them in wooden barrels, with bacteria and wild yeasts."
I have to tell you that I have already tried some of them and here is a fair warning: make sure to remember the name, because I am convinced that many will be fascinated by La Salvatge.
ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY “LAMBIC: ABOUT TIME & PASSION”
Dani Ruiz tells me that in 2014 he received an invitation from Carlos Rodriguez (Ales Agullons) to accompany him on a trip to Belgium for a week in his van. In the words of Dani himself: ”During that trip we were able to visit several breweries such as Brasserie de la Senne, Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen. A few videos were released for CerveTV, but I fell in love with Lambic beer. I was infused with all the passion transmitted from Jean Van Roy (Cantillon) and Armand Debelder (3 Fonteinen) and, years later, I decided to self-produce this documentary.”
At the end of 2016 he started with pre-production, the organization of the trip and all the visits, and in February 2017 he started filming it: “In total I have made five trips to Belgium, I have more than forty hours of filmed material and twenty interviews. For the final edition, we had to discard a lot of very good material and we had to omit several interviews that we conducted.”
Important to highlight regarding the documentary is that it has been financed with Dani’s own savings. The reason for this, according to Dani, is that “on other occasions and projects, I had been seeking external financing, both from producers, and by micro-patronage. But this is something that takes a lot of energy, and in this case I needed all of it for myself.”
In the documentary "Lambic: About Time & Passion" various breweries appear, such as Lindemans, Cantillon, Boon and 3 Fonteinen. Also blenders participate, such as Oud Beersel, De Cam and Tilquin. But in addition to the producers, in this process of immersion in the wonderful world of lambic, they also visited a few Belgian restaurants and bars such as 3 Fonteinen Restaurant, Les Brigittines, La Fruitiere, Moeder Lambic, In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst, etc. And of course, they also conducted numerous interviews, among others with the famous Jef Van de Steen, "Geuze & Kriek; the Secret of Lambic” author and founder of the Glazen Toren brewery.
From C R A F T E D we wanted to take advantage of the talk with Dani to ask him to share some of his photos, all of them taken during his recent trips to Belgium. And as you will see below, we couldn’t be more grateful. Both for his kindness, and for giving us a unique insight into the magic of the Belgian beer tradition and, in particular, the cherished lambic style. Thank you very much Dani!
1.- WINDOW WITH BOTTLES IN OUD BEERSEL
Dani: The most photographed spot for visitors at the old brewery. It is a very intriguing place.
2.- SALA DE BARRICAS EN OUD BEERSEL
Dani: Gert Christiansens walks thoughtfully among several of his oldest barrels, which have contained port wine and are almost 100 years old.
3.- KAREL GODEAU, BLENDER DE CAM BROUWERIJ
Dani: Profile picture, outside the shot I'm doing an interview. I have great memories of that day, when he opened his doors for us and we had a very pleasant day, tasting their beers.
4.- SALA DE BARRICAS Y FOEDERS DE 3 FONTEINEN
Dani: They are currently making one of the biggest investments in the world of Lambic. Hopefully it will come to fruition.
5.- ARMAND DEBELBER SIRVIENDO “ARMAND & GASTON”
Dani: A scene from the documentary, in which Armand Debelder is serving a bottle of "Armand & Gaston" Geuze, the best geuze I've tried so far.
6.- SERVIDO DE TILQUIN PINOT GRIS
Dani: Tilquin Pinot Gris, a simply spectacular beer.
7.- DE CAM GEUZESTEKERIJ
Dani: These are the hammers they use to take out and put in the plugs in the wooden barrels, where the beer ferments. In the documentary we can see how they are used.