Great companies of the Meetjesland in Flanders, Belgium

The Van Steenberge Brewery

The town of Ertvelde is home to the last great active brewery in our Meetjesland. It's independant, family owned; it's doing very well... and the owners are not the only ones who hope to keep it that way.

Those who know anything at all about good Belgian beer know about Augustijn, Piraat, Gulden Draak, Sparta Pils, Celis White, Leute Bokbier, Bruegel, Bornem Dubbel and Bornem Tripel to name just a few, all brewed by Van Steenberge.

Not so well known is Bassevelde's own brew called... "Ezelsbier" (Donkey Beer). Donkey is the nickname for someone who comes from Bassevelde.

All the beers of the Van Steenberge Brewery are living beers: when they are bottled or kegged living yeast is added and a second slow fermentation starts in the bottle or keg.

The mulitinational brewers of this country sell dead beer because it's pasteurised and sterilised. A beer lover we know said it's just right for those who enjoy peeing. We think that's probably going a little too far.

There is no point in copying from other websites who already sing the praises of this brewery and its products. There are also quite a few videos on the web: experts reviewing the Van Steenberge beers. Finding these video clips is easy. We'll just give you here one or two links and hope you'll see and above all, taste for yourself.

First there is the website of the brewery itself. Here is their homepage in English. And then there is globalbeer.com.

A good old Meetjesland pub where you can sample the beers of the Van Steenberge Brewery is «De Roste Muis» in Waterland-Oudeman. Also highly recommended !

And then there is the sad case of Café De Skieven Architek on the Vosseplein, alias Place du Jeu de Balle in Brussels. "Skief", "skieve" and "skieven" means leaning, slanting. Skieven Architek is now an insult. It was also the name the people of the Marolles Quarter of Brussels called Poelaert, the architect who drew up the plans for the huge Palace of Justice where there's so much wasted space and so little justice. In the Skieven Architek pub they served a delicious beer also called Skieven Architek, that was brewed specially for them by the Van Steenberge Brewery. But we suppose huge rents and enormous taxes got the better of them and now this pub is closed. Let's hope the capital of Europe will soon have a pub where they serve all the Van Steenberge beers. And... is it really not possible to revive the Skieven Architek ?

Cheers !

Our pictures of the brewery
All about Ertvelde

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