Itterbeek is a small community in Flemish Brabant, southwest of Brussels, sitting in the Pajottenland — the same landscape that produces the wild-fermented lambic beers that Belgium has been making since the medieval period. Brouwerij Timmermans has operated there since 1702, making it the world’s oldest surviving lambic brewery. The Blanche — a witbier produced in the lambic-influenced tradition of the Pajottenland — is the brewery’s expression of the Belgian wheat beer style: cloudy pale gold, coriander and orange peel, refreshing finish, the soft wheat body characteristic of the witbier category. If you are Belgian and living in Tokyo, this is the witbier from a brewery old enough that its founding predates Belgium as a country by over a century.
The world’s oldest lambic brewery, since 1702
The beer catalogued here as Timamant Blanchet Beer is produced by Brouwerij Timmermans — the catalogue name appears to be a misspelling of Timmermans Blanche, and the brewery attribution is listed accordingly as Brouwerij Timmermans (likely; catalog typo ‘Timamant Blanchet’). The brewery was established in 1702 in Itterbeek, Flemish Brabant, and is recognised as the world’s oldest continuously operating lambic brewery. Timmermans is best known internationally for its fruit lambics, but the Blanche represents the brewery’s witbier production: a Belgian white beer in the Pajottenland tradition, shaped by the same regional brewing culture that produced the lambic style.
The beer is a Belgian witbier, lambic-influenced in its regional provenance rather than its production method. The pour is cloudy pale gold, and the flavour profile follows the witbier template established by the Hoegaarden revival: coriander and orange peel over a soft wheat body, low bitterness, and a refreshing finish that suits the style’s position as an approachable, food-friendly beer. At 4.5% ABV, it sits comfortably in session territory, light enough to open the Sunday lunch without demanding the attention a stronger beer requires. The Timmermans brewery context gives the Blanche a provenance that most witbiers cannot claim — wheat beer made in the Pajottenland, at a brewery that has been reading that landscape since the early eighteenth century.
How Timamant Blanchet Beer is drunk at home
Santé! / Op uw gezondheid! (sahn-TAY / op-uw geh-ZONT-hayt) — French and Flemish respectively, both meaning “to your health.” In Flemish Brabant, where Itterbeek sits on the border between linguistic communities, both toasts have equal standing at the table, and a witbier tends to bring out the more relaxed version of either.
In Belgium, a witbier at 4.5% belongs to the opening of the Sunday family lunch — the first beer poured while the mussels are still cooking, the fries still draining, the afternoon not yet committed to a direction. Moules-frites is the pairing it was effectively designed for: the coriander in the witbier resonates with the spiced cooking liquid of the mussels, the orange peel cuts through the salt of the fries, and the soft wheat body provides enough presence to carry the dish without competing with it. Belgian fries with mayonnaise are the constant companion throughout, and the low bitterness and refreshing finish of the Blanche make them easy company across multiple rounds. Stoofvlees, the slow-braised beef stew, belongs to a later point in the meal when the witbier has been replaced by something heavier — but the Blanche carries the table to that point with ease.
Belgian beer festivals give witbier its own category alongside the Trappist ales and strong goldens, and a witbier from the world’s oldest lambic brewery carries a provenance at those festivals that a standard witbier does not share.
How to drink it in Japan
The Timamant Blanchet Beer suits Japanese spring and summer — April through September — when the coriander and orange peel character of a witbier fits the warmth of the season and the refreshing finish earns its place. It is also the witbier best suited to Belgian National Day on July 21, when the occasion calls for something light and accessible that the full table can pour through comfortably.
At Lawson, try it alongside a lightly salted onigiri — the clean, mild rice and the soft seasoning provide a neutral backdrop that lets the coriander and orange peel of the witbier come forward without competition. For a composed pairing at home, serve it with steamed clams in sake and butter — the brine of the clams and the richness of the butter find a natural counterpart in the spice and citrus of the Blanche, the low bitterness and soft wheat body keeping the pairing light rather than heavy. The logic is the same as moules-frites: a brined shellfish dish alongside a coriander-and-orange-peel wheat beer, the geography changed and the flavour logic identical.
Witbier from a Pajottenland brewery with a founding date of 1702 is not a category that Tokyo’s specialty import shops have reason to stock consistently. By the case from Omori Mart — 330ml × 12 bottles — the per-bottle cost is accessible, and twelve bottles suits a small summer gathering without the commitment of a larger case.
Get Timamant Blanchet Beer delivered in Japan
Timamant Blanchet Beer is available from Omori Mart in a 330ml × 12 bottle case, delivered nationwide across Japan.
- Free shipping on orders over ¥15,000
- Pay at FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, or Lawson — or by bank transfer or card
- Nationwide delivery to any address in Japan
Rakuten and Amazon Japan do not carry this label. Omori Mart is where Belgians in Japan find the witbiers with the deepest roots in the Pajottenland — including the one from a brewery that has been there since 1702.
[Shop Timamant Blanchet Beer →]
https://omorimart.com/product/timamant-blanchet-beer-330ml-x-12-bottles/
Santé in Itterbeek, where Timmermans has been fermenting in the Pajottenland since 1702, and kanpai at a Tokyo table in June — cloudy pale gold, coriander and orange peel, and a brewery older than Belgium itself.
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