In January 1997, at the invitation of
3 Fonteinen's Armand Debelder, HORAL's founder members met in
Beersel. HORAL was formally established with its original members: 3 Fonteinen, Boon, De Cam, De Troch, Lindemans, and Timmermans. The first
Toer de Geuze was organised on October 19 1997, when HORAL's member producers decided to open their doors to the public. Since then the open brewery day has become a biennial event. Over the past two decades, the
Toer de Geuze has effectively become the largest beer event of
Flemish Brabant. HORAL successfully campaigned for the creation of a
European Union "traditional specialities guaranteed"
(TSG) designation for the names "lambic" and "gueuze". This ensures that only products genuinely originating in the region are allowed to be identified as such in commerce. In 2016 HORAL met with representatives of
Jester King Brewery to discuss a disagreement over the Americans' use of the term
Méthode Gueuze. It was agreed that the
Texan brewers would in future use the designation
Méthode Traditionnelle as a style name. HORAL's Megablend Oude Gueuze was first brought to the market in 2009. It is a blend of old and young
lambics from HORAL's members. A gueuze enthusiast from Great Britain paid 300 EUR for the first bottle in 2015. Werner Van Obberghen of 3 Fonteinen said: "We decided to leave HORAL because we could no longer agree with its current values., Eylenbosch (
Zellik) in 2023, Kestemont (
Sint-Gertrudis-Pede) in 2024 and Sako Brewery (
Gooik) in 2026. == Member producers ==