June: DrinkDrink, heritage Wielemans & beer spot Dekkera

A refreshing summer tour through Brussels’ rich beer history.

This summer we organise something special: Every first Saturday of the month you can enjoy another Beer Secret tour through Brussels! Each month you’ll be introduced to a couple of new breweries, their stories and of course their delicious beers. If you like beer, Brussels and history, this is the perfect summer activity for you.

In this June edition, you’ll discover the beer secrets of Brussels’ district Forest: from today and the past! 

See you! 

Full program June: DrinkDrink, Wielemans brewery heritage & craft beer spot Dekkera 

DrinkDrink brewery: Get exclusive access

Say Hi to Pierrick, Frederick, or Jean, founders of the DrinkDrink, who will show you around their brewery!

And this isn’t like any old brewery! They took over the market with some tasty organic beers. Let’s try their four most recent beers! 

While enjoying a beer, the brewer will share their story: from how they opened in 2021 after sharing their recipe with brewery Saint Lazare to the origin of their name. 
Their love for cycling and beers has formed the brewery’s name. Or still not clear yet why DrinkDrink? Find it out during the VIP tour;
As cyclists are the biggest fans, they also created a Non alcoholic IPA! Will we have the chance to also try this one-and-only Brussels N/A beer?

After DrinkDrink, we’ll walk 15 minutes to the brewery that was one of the biggest a century ago.

Wielemans: Observe the art deco heritage brewery surrounded by water and railways

The history of Wielemans dates back to 1860 when it started, as so many breweries in Brussels at the time, by experimenting with lambic and faro beer styles. No wonder the brewery was located in the city center, where the Zenne river was important to the taste of Brussels beer. After the covering, the brewery moved away in 1885, outside Brussels and followed the railways towards the South, and found the source of the Zenne.

From then on, they were growing exponentially, brewing hectoliters of lager beer. Yes, it may sound disappointing, but since their visit to Germany during the Industrial Revolution, Wielemans started brewing lager.

Since then, Wiels pilsner became a staple of Belgian beers export. This didn’t passed by unnoticed by brewery Artois who purchased Wielemans and preferred to demolish the site. Fortunately, the former mayor protected the building and now it’s renowned as a cultural heritage. 

So what are we going to see? Let’s enter this art-deco building and explore the century-old gigantic brew kettles which are the only remaining brewery equipment of our Brussels brewing history. 

Now that we are in this Wiels area, let’s stroll down to the-one-and-only craft beer spot of Wiels area. 

Dekkera: Try more Brussels brews at Forest hidden beer spot;

Dekkera is the preferred beerspot by locals around Wielemans. This passionate beer owner fell in love with brewing beers and left his journalism studies for what they were. Sylvain says “beer is the most interesting thing to discover in Belgium.” Let’s find out what he means by that.  

Sylvain decided to open a craft beer spot. To guarantee that he knew each beer that arrives at his bar, he decided to visit several craft breweries.

So let’s try 2 more Brussels brews of breweries we can’t visit together (yet!): De La Mule c& Surrealiste! 

When your host Liselot announces the end of the tour, don’t hesitate to reach out for a final Brussels beer question, and feel free to stay a bit longer among this great community! 

Take the chance to take-away a Brussels beer pack, as this is the place to be for Brussels brews. (And for those who don’t know yet, we’re counting 17 breweries in Brussels alone).