Hoppiness Brussels

Brewery Visit at Brasserie Caulier

Posted on October 26, 2026 by Carien

Brewery visit at Brasserie Caulier

Brasserie Caulier, located in Peruwelz only 3 kilometers from the French border, celebrated their 30^th anniversary this month with a lot of special festivities. I visited the brewery earlier this summer, when I also visited the nearby Caulier restaurant: Brasserie Atlas. This historic tavern serves delicious food and has all their beers as well.

Find all my photos here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/De9n_-GtQ6U/

History of Caulier

The history of Brasserie Caulier goes back to 1933 when the first person in the Caulier family started as beer merchant on the French border. In 1980 Roger and Linda Caulier, third generation of the family, were at the head of the business, which was growing well. They took over a tannery, because they needed space. In the nineties they launched their Bon Secours beer brand and quickly decided to also start brewing it themselves. In 1996 their first beer was brewed.

In 2012 their three sons Laurent, Bertrand and Vincent joined the business. This is also the year they started making the Paix Dieu abbey beer and first beers in the Stuut beer range. In 2017 the three brothers took over the daily management and started a big innovation project. In 2018 they installed a completely new brewing system to keep up with the rising demand.

October 2026 did not just mark the 30^th anniversary of the brewery, but also was the finish line on a 9 year renovation and innovation plan. Investments were not only made in the new brewing systems, but also in solar panels (from 726 to 2000), water management and water treatment (usage of 5,12 liter water per beer to 1,5 liters) and many new fermentation tanks to be able to brew more often.

The new Brewery

Currently they are brewing around 100.000 HL per year but Caulier now has the capacity to double or triple this. They employ around 90 people. The brewery wants to earn back the investment and hopes to export more. The main markets now are France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. The old brewing equipment in copper is beautiful to see and still operational, but is rarely used anymore. The brewery has their own water source and has heavily invested in a water treatment station. This way they can reuse more water and need to pump up less water from the ground. In order to accomplish this, they bought up surrounding land, consisting of meadows and an old farm building. This old farm building was broken down in small pieces and used as a stabilizer in the ground for the new annex building. The new brewing system is fully automatic.

Rewenal Bon Secours range

This year the whole Bon Secours range was changed as well. New recipes to matching the new goals and vision of an innovating brewery. The brewery also works with several restaurants, les Maisons du Bon, to showcase their beers to a wider audience.

At the end of the tour we got to taste three beers, one from each of the three beer ranges the brewery has made. The brewery also has a shop, which opens from Wednesday to Saturday. Paix Dieu still remains my favourite but I was also quite impressed with the alcohol free beer (Zero Pression) that I took home from the shop.

Posted in beerblog, breweries and beer places, news | Tagged beer blog, belgian beer, brasserie caulier, brewery visit | Leave a comment

Winter Beer Tastings 2026

Posted on October 23, 2026 by Carien

Our Winter Beer Tastings are back! More info: https://www.billetweb.fr/winter-beer-tasting

Bring your family, friends, neighbours and colleagues and join Carien for a delicious Winter Beer tasting. When it’s cold, dark and even wet ouside, winter beers will surely lift your spirit. Enjoy a special afternoon or evening in the cozy Hoppiness tasting room. You’ll get four winter beers with a delicious food pairing each. Carien will tell stories about the beers, the brewers and many other beer related fun facts. Towards the end of the tasting we will do an exciting quiz! The winner gets a prize to take home! This year we’ll have different themes to our tastings & tasting room

31 Oktober – Halloween edition

28 November – Autumn & Winter beers

11 & 12 December – Christmas & Winter beers

21 December – Winter Solstice & Christmas

And for all our winter beer tastings:

if you come dressed up in a costume, you’ll get an extra beer taster! 😀

Posted in beertasting, events | Tagged beertasting, brussels, christmas, hoppiness | Leave a comment

October Newsletter

Posted on October 20, 2026 by Carien

Did you know we send out a monthly newsletter? Every month I write a personal newsletter about what I have been up to (beerwise…) and about (our) upcoming events.

Want to see what it looks like? Read this months edition here.

Would you like to receive our newsletter as well? Subscribe here! You’ll get it only once a month and can always unsubscribe!

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Open Brewery Days at Orval

Posted on October 1, 2026 by Carien

On Friday the 18th of September I managed to cross something of my (beer) bucket list. I visited the Open Brewery Days at Orval. This Trappist Monastery opens their brewery only once a year, always in September. It’s 190 kilometres away and at least two hours driving from Brussels, but it was definitely worth the trip. I thoroughly enjoyed walking past the copper brewing tanks and the rest of the installations, reading about the history of the beer and its recipe. Orval is one of my favourite beers and is often mentioned in my beer and brewery talks because of it’s special nature.

The Orval brewery was set up in 1931 in a time when they were rebuilding the monastery back up from its ruins. It was always intended as an activity to finance the monastery and not specifically as an activity for the monks, as they were already making bread and cheese. So Orval brew masters were and are always laymen.

When they started the brewing team used an unusual combination of production methods, such as infusion brewing and dry-hopping, especially for that time but even now. Orval beer is made with three different fermentations. After the first fermentation (top-fermentation with a house yeast), the young beer is transferred to big maturation tanks and kept at 15 degrees Celsius for 3 weeks. This is the moment where hops are added (dry hopping) and the wild yeast (their house strain of Brettanomyces). They have dozens of 10.000 litre tanks that we walked past during the brewery tour. After bottling the beer is refermented in the bottle for around 4 weeks at a temperature of 17 degrees Celsius. Only after that the beer is ready to go to the customers. And as all Orval-lovers know, from there the beer will continue to evolve.

After the tour we went to the nearby tavern A l’ange gardien, where we had a nice lunch and I drank my first green Orval ever. Green Orval is an Orval without the addition of wild yeast (Brettanomyces). It tastes like an IPA, because the strong dry hopping that is used on Orval now determines the flavour. Even without the brewery, the Orval Abbey is worth a visit and the nearby tavern is open every day, except Wednesdays. I have made a video of my visit and you can see it here on Instagram.

The next Open Brewery Days at Orval are already scheduled: 17 & 18 September 2027. Registration will open in May 2027. Click here for more information: https://www.orval.be/en/page/501-open-days

Posted in breweries and beer places | Tagged beertasting, belgian beer, brewery visit, orval, trappist, trappist brewery | Comments Off

Heritage Days 2026: Our landscape, our legacy

Posted on September 21, 2026 by Carien

This weekend it was the Brussels Heritage Days. Many events, walks and visits were organised in this years theme: Our landscape, our legacy. My amazing colleague Helene and I did several group walks in downtown Brussels around the rich heritage of beer, hosted by Once in Brussels. We put beer in the spotlight as both Belgian and Brussels heritage. During our walks traces of the city’s brewing past and present appeared at every turn. Industrial buildings, street names, cafés, meeting places and hotels. It was really nice to show our groups all these places linked to our Unesco recognised Belgian Beer Culture.

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Special tour for the Belgian Beer Culture Days 2026

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Carien

— Special tour for the Belgian Beer Culture Days 2026 —-

This year the Belgian Brewers celebrate that it’s 10 years ago that UNESCO recognized our entire beer culture as “Living Heritage”. This unique status doesn’t protect some dusty piece of history, but a vibrant tradition that is experienced, shared, and passed down anew every day.

Celebrations started with the always epic Belgian Beer Weekend on the Grand Place but festivities continue at the Belgian Beer Culture Bar at the Bourse all week.

Specially for you, we’re organising an exclusive tour at the impressive Maison des Brasseurs on the Grand Place, build in 1698 for the Brussels Brewers Guild.

Book your ticket now and don’t miss the opportunity to see what it looks like on the inside and see the UNESCO certificate with your own eyes.

Book here: https://www.billetweb.fr/belgian-beer-culture-days-visit-the-brewershouse

Included in your ticket:
– Guided tour of the Brewers house
– Visit of the museum of the Belgian Brewers

– (Learn to) tap your own beer at the Belgian Brewers museum bar

Posted in beertasting, events | Tagged belgian beer culture, maison des brasseurs, rondleiding, tour | Comments Off

Belgian Beer Weekend 2026

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Carien

Belgian Beer Weekend 2026🍻 at the Grand Place of Brussels
It started a little wet on Friday but it got quite cozy with 30 people under one umbrella😅
Shared a beer with many lovely people but also managed to not find just as many 🤪 Hope to catch you next year!

See more photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc9MJK4N6oi

Posted in beerblog | Tagged belgian beer weekend, brussels | Comments Off

Belgium Beer Week 2026 has started

Posted on August 24, 2026 by Carien

Belgium Beer Week 2026 has just started. This co-creation event celebrates Belgian beer culture, a UNESCO recognised intangible cultural heritage of humankind. Bars, brewers and beer guides around the world can register their events at www.belgiumbeerweek.be The week runs from Monday 24th of August till Sunday the 30th of August. Belgium Beer Week is organised by the Beer Idiots.

At Hoppiness Brussels we will host a Tour and Tasting at Maison des Brasseurs and a Beer History Workshop. More information and tickets can be found on Billetweb: https://www.billetweb.fr/multi_event.php?user=186058

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Tasting Chibuku Umqombothi

Posted on July 30, 2026 by Carien

Tasting Chibuku Umqombothi – Cape Town South Africa (Woodstock brewery)

One more post about my time in Cape Town for the African Beer Cup During one of our brewery visits with the group of judges we got to taste Umqombothi.

Fellow judge Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela (Tolokazi brewing) had brought us some Chibuku, a commercial version of this traditional South African beer. This type of beer is made from corn, corn malt, sorghum malt, yeast and water. It is quite low in alcohol (less than 3% normally). It is traditionally brewed by women, for which they actually distance themselves from the rest of the village during the whole brewing process.

This beer has probably been made for thousands of years and is brewed in each tribe/ village according to a recipe that has been passed down for generations. Apiwe is actively trying to keep this traditional beer and the traditions surrounding it alive by organizing talks, masterclasses and brewing competitions. Beer heritage like this is important to keep alive for future generations.

Now for the tasting. As you can see in the photo Umqombothi looks nothing like any modern beer at all. The beer looks grey-white and milk-like and has a heavy and quite sour aroma. The mouth feel is quite thick, creamy and even a little gritty, reminding me a bit of slightly sour thin yogurt, followed by some grainy, corn-like flavours and a little fruitiness. Surprising for sure, but also refreshing and after a few sips to get used to it, I definitely enjoyed it. For me it was very special to taste such a different beer and to learn about its heritage.

A must-try when you visit South-Africa. I surely will try to find some more Umqombothi on my next visit to Cape Town.

#africanbeercup #umqombothi #beertradions #beerlovers #southafricanbeers

Posted in beerblog, beertasting, breweries and beer places | Tagged african beer cup, tolokazi, umqombothi | Comments Off

Brasserie Illegaal – Brewery visit

Posted on July 14, 2026 by Carien

Brasserie Illegaal – Brewery visit

In June I had the pleasure of visiting Brasserie Illegaal. This brewery is located in Brussels, to be more precise, in the commune of Forest, close to the Ring-road and Flanders. To get there you can take a bus or train from Brussels-Midi station.

The brewery has an impressive collective of founders: it’s made up of seventeen people, many of them from the art scene. They come together every six months to make decisions together. The official start of the brewery was in 2021, but in the years before, the collective already often brewed beer for their own parties. These were hosted in different locations around Brussels and gradually gained more traction and grew too big to continue like that. An official business was the next step, but the name remained true to their origins: Illegaal.

Art, beer and parties

The Illegaal brewery collective has three main goals: space for art and culture, good parties and high quality but affordable beer to drink at these parties. When you see the brewery these goals are immediately clear. Every wall is decorated with graffiti, the brewery is state-of-the-art and there is ample space for dancing, concerts and relaxing. The building has two entrances, as was envisioned by the owners. One for the brewing and one for the parties. The cute French bulldog from the logo was found relaxing on the curtain outside the party entrance, waiting for the next party for sure.

The brewery

During our visit we were shown around by the brewer and one of the founders, they were fantastic hosts and answered all our questions. Illegaal brews on a shiny 20 hectoliter system. The building has a high ceiling made from metal sheets, which gives it a nice, industrial vibe. With the sun on it in summer, brewing will surely be a hot activity.

Most of their beer is brewed for on-site use during the parties and concerts they host, and goes straight to the big tanks that feed the bar. The rest of the beer is canned, for which they use a Canadian canning system. All cans have original art on the labels, made by one of the founders or other artists. Their beer cans can be found in beer shops all over Belgium and even further. The fermentation tanks are 500 liters and they brew 2-3 times per week. They pasteurize their alcohol-free beer and the Club Rate Mate, but not the rest of them.

The beers all have to be high quality, but easy drinking and not too crazy as that is what their customers like. After the very nice tour we tasted several of their beers and were definitely impressed. The Piels lager for instance is lagered for 10-12 weeks and this is well reflected in the taste. Their Social lager is lagered for 8 weeks. Definitely no short-cuts here! We also enjoyed the Raison saison, the Khop Killer neipa and the Tropicaal ipa. Special mention for their alcohol-free beer 6 Roses. Made in house with special yeast and absolutely delicious.

Illegaal brewery hosts parties every weekend, find the event list here, and I was told there generally is someone there if you want to drop by during the week to buy or drink some beers.