Specialties such as lambics, saisons, and Trappist ales may have Belgium on the world-beer map, but unassuming pils remains the preferred everyday corner-bar drink of many Belgians.
When Jean Van Roy’s great-grandparents founded Cantillon in 1900, there were dozens of other breweries and lambic blenderies in the city. The 20th century was hard on them. War, consolidation, and changing tastes all played a role in their shutting down or moving elsewhere.
The city’s largest brewery was once Wielemans-Ceuppens, makers of a beloved pils. The Artois brewery—now part of AB InBev—took it over 1978 and within a decade had shut it down.