Catalogue no. BBG166
Glasses
Exhibit information
Glass style Ale Glass A versatile, usually straight-sided glass with a wide opening, designed for easy drinking while leaving room for a good head and the beer's aroma.
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Explainers
Capacity 33cl
Manufactured 2025 Curator’s Notes This 33 cl Beersel glass was manufactured in 2025 for 3 Fonteinen’s range of non-lambic beers. The form is a nicely proportioned ale glass with some tulip influence: a rounded lower bowl rising into a taller, gently tapering body, set on a short stem and broad foot.
The decoration remains characteristically restrained. The Beersel name appears in a simple handwritten white script, with “Blond” and “Lager” beneath it to indicate the two styles in the range. Apart from the 33 cl measure and manufacture markings, there is little else to distract from the clean design.
The story behind Beersel Lager is considerably older than the glass. In August 2001, 3 Fonteinen’s Armand Debelder joined a beer trip to Bamberg which introduced him to the lager culture of Franconia. He became particularly fond of the beer from Brauerei Hartmann in Würgau, and an account by one of his travelling companions records that the experience ultimately led Armand to create Beersel Lager, brewed on 3 Fonteinen’s behalf at De Proefbrouwerij.
There may be another connection. Some accounts describe Beersel Lager as a collaboration between Armand Debelder and his friend and fellow lambic brewer Frank Boon, intended to recreate a Bohemian-style pilsner. The two men certainly worked closely together in the revival of traditional lambic, but the Museum has not yet found sufficiently strong evidence to confirm Frank Boon’s precise role in the creation of this particular beer.
That uncertainty makes the glass no less interesting. A vessel carrying the name of one of Belgium’s most celebrated lambic producers also represents Armand Debelder’s enthusiasm for an entirely different brewing tradition. Even for 3 Fonteinen, Belgian beer culture was never confined to a single box.
Although more conventional in form and labelling than 3 Fonteinen’s lambic and tasting glasses, it still follows the same visual philosophy: minimal branding, a strong sense of place, and confidence in simplicity.
The name is significant too. By calling the range Beersel, the brewery ties these newer beers directly to its home territory, even as it steps beyond the lambic traditions for which it is best known.
