Last week I visited the open brewery days at WestmalleTrappist. It was a well organised event with a parcourse throughout the whole place. Lots of info on the history, but also on the brewing method and the ingredients. For instance:
Did you know their beers are brewed with the whole hopflower and not with pellets?
The Art Deco copper brewing system from the twenties was amazing to see, as well as the huge new brewing room.
I also spotted some barrels of fresh yeast, ready to be picked up by the Trappist brothers of West-Vleteren. Did you know they pick up fresh yeast at Westmalle before every brew?
It was great to look around and see how it all works for them. At the end there was an enjoyable tasting with their homemade cheeses. Yum!
Last weekend the Heritage Days were taking place and especially for this year’s theme Hoppiness hosted eight workshops about the influence of the interwar years and Art Deco on Belgian Beer Culture. I prepared this workshop together with my colleague Helene from Hoppyz. She did the same workshop in French and English at her house, while I hosted in Dutch and English.
What a pleasure it was to dive into our history and taste three beer styles from those years with so many visitors on both Saturday and Sunday.
We tasted:
– Fresh 20 month old lambic straight from the barrel from Brasserie Cantillon, Brussels oldest brewery.
– Silly Scotch brewed for the first time in 1918 from Brasserie de Silly, who celebrated their 175th anniversary the same weekend.
– Palm Speciale brewed first in 1929 by Brouwerij Palm, in the speciale belge style that was brought to live by Belgian brewers at the beginning of the 20th century to compete with foreign ales.
A big thank you to Urban Brussels for organising this beautiful weekend and to all those lovely people that joined!
Have a look inside the impressive Maison des Brasseurs on the Grand Place of Brussels (build in 1698)!
Tour & Tasting at Maison des Brasseurs
Included in your ticket:
– Guided tour of the Brewers house
– 3 beer tasters
– Visit of the museum of the Belgian Brewers
– Expert guidance by local beer sommelier Carien.
Don’t miss out on this special opportunity!
Meeting point: in front of Maison des Brasseurs at Grand Place nr 10 a few minutes before we start. Carien will be there, wearing a green Hoppiness T-shirt.
Hoppiness will start with beer tastings for individuals!
Want to learn more about Belgian beers, Belgian breweries and Belgian beer culture? Join our classic beer tasting for a tasty introduction!
You will taste four different beer in four different beer styles. With each beer you’ll get a delicious food pairing (think cheese/ chocolate etc.)During the tasting experienced local beer sommelier Carien will tell you more about the Belgian beer scene.
Alcoholfree tickets available for the same experience without alcohol!
Heritage days /Journées du Patrimoine/ Open Monumentendagen
20 & 21 SEPT. 2025
Exciting news! Hoppiness Brussels will participate in the Heritage Days this year!
ART DECO, Roaring Twenties, Crash Years
For this 37th edition, Urban will show this artistic movement from a new perspective, as part of the 2025 Art Deco Year. We will not only delve into the movement’s well-known aesthetics and luxury, but also explore its urban, architectural, sociological, and human dimensions.
Under the theme ART DECO – Roaring Twenties, Crash Years, the event will highlight a wide spectrum of heritage: from buildings, façades, and interiors to furniture, collections, intangible heritage, and public spaces.
Hoppiness Brussels and Hoppyz have together worked out a workshop and presentation that will be hosted in both our tasting rooms. Hoppiness in Jette (NL / ENG) en Hoppyz in Forest (FR/ENG).
The subject will be:
How the Interwar Period Shaped Belgian Beer Culture
The events of the period between the two world wars had a big influence on daily life and on the Belgian Beer culture. From the roaring twenties to the popular World Exhibitions, from the American prohibition to the Great Depression: breweries were impacted immensely and had to adjust. Local beer experts Helene and Carien will be your hosts during these special workshops at their tasting rooms and take the participants through the changes of this time and the impact on Belgian beer culture. You will learn about a few beer styles that were popular then and see what happened to those styles and to the Belgian of those times.
Tickets booked up to one week in advance – email us with your desired size ( S/ M/L/XL/ XXL mens/ladies shirt) and we will make sure to have the right size for you. info@hoppiness.brussels
For those who book with shorter notice, we will have a big selection of T-shirt sizes available, but it may be possible we wont have all sizes.
Posted inbeertasting, events|Comments Off on XL Beer Tasting for Belgium Beer Week
Cheers to International Beer Day! I hope you’re all enjoying a good one out there🍻 I enjoyed this fruity and properly bitter Summer Pale Ale by the Balinese brewery Island Brewing for sure!
Hoppiness is all about good craft beer and having a good time. Brussels and Belgium have amazing breweries and we’d like to share our best beer discoveries with you so you can experience Belgian beer culture in the best way possible.
Hibiscus pale ale (6%) brewed by Tale Beer Brewery in Nsawam Adoagyiri (Ghana).
This beer is brewed in Africa with African ingrediënts like rice and sonio and in the case of this beer, hibiscus 🌺
The result is a tasty ale, golden in colour with a red shimmer. The base is grainy but also has a nice flowery taste and aroma. The hibiscus is mild and a great and surprising addition. Like!
Triple Abbaye de Lys (8.5%) brewed by Brasserie Goudale in Arques (Northern France).
A typical Belgian style blonde beer. Brewed with four grains, orange and coriander. It has a malty body, sweet and alcoholic, but also grainy and the coriander gives it quite a spicy aftertaste.
The Abbey de Lys has been in ruins for many years but is a protected monument. It can be found near Paris. The fleur-de-lis is also known as the French lily symbol.
Indira Blonde ipa (6%) brewed by The Muttermilch Vienna Brewery in Vienna (Austria).
A rich ipa, both in aroma and taste. Tropical notes, a good malty body and a bitter and fruity finish. Yum!
The Muttermilch Vienna Brewery is located in the basement of the BeerLovers Craftbeer Store in Vienna. The name ‘Muttermilch’ (Mother's Milk) means the highest quality for the brewery and stands as a symbol for mental and physical nourishment.
A big thankyou to my Viennese friend A who gifted me this tasty beer!
Hallertau pils (5.2%) brewed by Human Robot in Philadelphia (USA).
This well made pilsener has a full malty body and a crisp and slightly bitter finish.
Information from the brewery:
This beer is brewed as an ode to the industrial German pilsners of the 50’s to the late 70’s when technology allowed more efficient processes, but the liquid was still brewed “the old way”. They have used a double decoction mash, 100% German Pilsner malt, and 100% German Hallertau Mittlefru hops.
This summer I visited Brasserie Caulier, the brewer of the Paix Dieu, Bon Secours and Stuut beers. This month the brewery celebrates their 30th anniversary so definitely the right moment to (finally😅) post my pictures of this visit. You can also read my article about the brewery on my website: www.hoppiness.brussels
Winter Ale (10%) brewed by Circus Brouwerij in Zwevegem (Belgium)
This strong dark ale is very rich in spicyness in both aroma and taste. Notes of cinnamon dominate but in the aftertaste it's more like gingerbread. Together with a strong and sweet malty and alcoholic body, it makes for a great beer for a stormy night like we have now in Brussels. Cheers!🍁
BZART Lambiek millesime (7.5%) made by Oud Beersel in Beersel (Belgium).
For this special beer Oud Beersel bottles their lambic with the addition of a ‘liqueur de tirage’, which consists of sparkling wine yeast and sugar for secondary fermentation. It then matures for at least nine months in the bottle before being finished according to the ‘Méthode Traditionnelle'.
This enjoyable brut lambic has a pleasant wild yeast aroma and a refreshing lambic flavour. The carbonisation is quite strong but it also gives the beer a nice and full body.
Hefe Weissbier (5.4%) brewed by Bay. Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephaner in Freising (Germany)
You can't go wrong with this beer from the oldest brewery in the world! Their story started nearly a thousand years ago, in 1040.
This wheat beer has yeasty aromas like clove and banana, a beautiful head of foam and a rich and grainy body. Prost!
Hibiscus pale ale (6%) brewed by Tale Beer Brewery in Nsawam Adoagyiri (Ghana).
This beer is brewed in Africa with African ingrediënts like rice and sonio and in the case of this beer, hibiscus 🌺
The result is a tasty ale, golden in colour with a red shimmer. The base is grainy but also has a nice flowery taste and aroma. The hibiscus is mild and a great and surprising addition. Like!
Triple Abbaye de Lys (8.5%) brewed by Brasserie Goudale in Arques (Northern France).
A typical Belgian style blonde beer. Brewed with four grains, orange and coriander. It has a malty body, sweet and alcoholic, but also grainy and the coriander gives it quite a spicy aftertaste.
The Abbey de Lys has been in ruins for many years but is a protected monument. It can be found near Paris. The fleur-de-lis is also known as the French lily symbol.
Indira Blonde ipa (6%) brewed by The Muttermilch Vienna Brewery in Vienna (Austria).
A rich ipa, both in aroma and taste. Tropical notes, a good malty body and a bitter and fruity finish. Yum!
The Muttermilch Vienna Brewery is located in the basement of the BeerLovers Craftbeer Store in Vienna. The name ‘Muttermilch’ (Mother's Milk) means the highest quality for the brewery and stands as a symbol for mental and physical nourishment.
A big thankyou to my Viennese friend A who gifted me this tasty beer!
Hallertau pils (5.2%) brewed by Human Robot in Philadelphia (USA).
This well made pilsener has a full malty body and a crisp and slightly bitter finish.
Information from the brewery:
This beer is brewed as an ode to the industrial German pilsners of the 50’s to the late 70’s when technology allowed more efficient processes, but the liquid was still brewed “the old way”. They have used a double decoction mash, 100% German Pilsner malt, and 100% German Hallertau Mittlefru hops.
This summer I visited Brasserie Caulier, the brewer of the Paix Dieu, Bon Secours and Stuut beers. This month the brewery celebrates their 30th anniversary so definitely the right moment to (finally😅) post my pictures of this visit. You can also read my article about the brewery on my website: www.hoppiness.brussels
Winter Ale (10%) brewed by Circus Brouwerij in Zwevegem (Belgium)
This strong dark ale is very rich in spicyness in both aroma and taste. Notes of cinnamon dominate but in the aftertaste it's more like gingerbread. Together with a strong and sweet malty and alcoholic body, it makes for a great beer for a stormy night like we have now in Brussels. Cheers!🍁
BZART Lambiek millesime (7.5%) made by Oud Beersel in Beersel (Belgium).
For this special beer Oud Beersel bottles their lambic with the addition of a ‘liqueur de tirage’, which consists of sparkling wine yeast and sugar for secondary fermentation. It then matures for at least nine months in the bottle before being finished according to the ‘Méthode Traditionnelle'.
This enjoyable brut lambic has a pleasant wild yeast aroma and a refreshing lambic flavour. The carbonisation is quite strong but it also gives the beer a nice and full body.
Hefe Weissbier (5.4%) brewed by Bay. Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephaner in Freising (Germany)
You can't go wrong with this beer from the oldest brewery in the world! Their story started nearly a thousand years ago, in 1040.
This wheat beer has yeasty aromas like clove and banana, a beautiful head of foam and a rich and grainy body. Prost!
Juicy neipa (5.7%) brewed by Loncium brewery in Mauthen (Austria).
A well made beer with a lovely aroma of pineapple and mango. The mouthfeel is juicy and creamy, it has a proper bitterness and a lot of fruity hoppy flavours. The can is nicely decorated with a variety of cartoon characters.
Loncium is the ancient Celtic name for the village of Mauthen.
#loncium #beerstagram #instabeer #ipalovers #neipa
Dubbel (6%) brewed by Brouwerij Fort Lapin in Brugge (Belgium).
This well made brown ale has a nice aroma of roasted malts. The taste is semi-sweet, with notes of toasted bread, syrup, roasted grains and a hint of red fruit.
Stonehenge lager (4.3%) brewed by Stone Daisy Brewery in Salisbury, Wiltshire (UK).
Visited Stonehenge this summer and brought back this beer as a souvenir. It's a golden lager made from 5 different malts resulting in a lovely biscuity flavour, the hops give it a crisp freshness with some floral notes. Definitely a nice souvenir😊
