Something very special is coming to Central Texas this weekend. Zwanze Day, a biennial, global celebration of the traditional Belgian gueuze and lambic beer styles put on by Belgium's Cantillon Brewing, is taking over Johnson City.
Zwanze Day, which is on Saturday, is at once a little nod to the importance of Belgian gueuze and lambic beers, and also a bit of fun. “Zwanze” is the local Brussels term for sarcastic humor. Cantillon is releasing a special experimental beer that playfully riffs on their classic styles, limiting its availability to a small selection of hand-picked locations worldwide where the beers will be tapped at the same time (2 p.m. for us) for maximum dramatic effect.
Just an hour west of Austin, Nice N Easy bar in Johnson City is one of the participating locations for the 17th annual Zwanze Day. The event runs noon to midnight and tickets are $46. The day will include a vinyl DJ, themed cocktails, food pop-ups, and other treats.
Nestled into a beautifully restored 19th century building just off Johnson City square, Nice N Easy is the brainchild of couples Garret Crowell and Adrienne Ballou and Matt and Margot Piper, who met through previous roles at Jester King Brewery. The bar opened in 2021 after two years of renovations.
The team took great care in creating a drinking space with a “desert-adjacent” aesthetic, highlighting original details like handmade terra cotta architectural brick from D’Hanis Brick & Tile Company in San Antonio and thin brick from Texas-based Elgin Butler. Bullet holes from the building’s rough-and-ready history remain visible.
Nice N Easy’s emphasis on slow, relaxed quality has built up a steady following of locals, visitors, and savvy Austinites happy to make the trip out of town for their expertly curated drinks list, including Matt Piper’s bewitching bespoke cocktails and beers and wines from Crowell’s Yokefellow Beer and Ballou’s Lightsome Wines. As a true barperson’s bar exuding unfussed quality, Nice N Easy is a natural fit for Zwanze Day, one of the most famous and highly curated events in international beer.
As the last lambic brewery in Brussels and dating back to 1900, Cantillon take their role as lambic-gueuze ambassadors seriously with their own museum and guided tours and tastings to preserve the historic culture of Belgian spontaneously fermented and blended beers.
At Nice N Easy, the news that they were chosen as the only Texas venue included in the project is still sinking in.
“It honestly seemed a bit like a pipe dream until Cantillon officially announced the list of venues and we happily saw Nice N Easy listed in alphabetical order,” said co-owner Matt Piper.
Nice N Easy’s selection also reflects their collective ethos and combined experience, with the owners having been involved in hosting previous Zwanze Day events at Jester King and Crowell and Ballou gaining advice and inspiration from Cantillon’s Jean Van Roy while developing Jester King’s original Spon series, the Texas Hill Country’s version of spontaneous beer, back in the early 2010s.
“Hosting Zwanze Day was always a cool idea in the back of our minds, but we never realistically thought that dream would come to fruition. What a privilege,” Matt Piper said.
This year’s list of 70 venues across 22 countries reads like a who’s who of craft beer cool:
- Louisville, KY’s Holy Grale
- Richmond, VA’s The Veil Brewing Co.
- London, UK’s Beer Merchants Tap
- Wellington, New Zealand’s Garage Project Wild Workshop
Nice N Easy’s inclusion in Zwanze Day puts the little Hill Country bar on a very exclusive map, and for those who haven’t visited yet, offers a very exciting opportunity to take part in one heck of a party.
“We’re most excited about the camaraderie and enthusiasm of the event as a whole, especially since the beer industry seems to be experiencing a tough go of it right now. Beer is all about community and carving out time to enjoy it with friends. Zwanze Day facilitates this by bringing people together in a quirky way,” Matt Piper said.
