Les Arches Competitors

Alarmed by a trend of making formerly bitter beers sweeter to please a bigger audience, Guido Devos and Nino Bacelle decided to start their own brewery. Brewery De Ranke was born and immediately took its own course, without compromise. Following their own taste, they start producing bitter and well-balanced beers. De Ranke makes the conscious choice of using only whole hops in the brewing process, so no hop extracts or pellets. These whole hops are the reason behind the distinctive hoppy, often bitter and well-balanced flavours of the De Ranke-beers.“Because we use whole hops brewing is more labor-intensive and it takes longer”, the brewers explain. “But when you take taste, quality and brewing tradition into account, using whole hops is the only logical choice we can make.” The De Ranke-team gets international praise for re-introducing hop flowers to Belgian brewing and we are known for our authentic beers with pronounced flavours. The brewery is still viewed by many in the international brewing world as one of the pioneers for hoppy, bitter beers. But the brewery has a strong reputation for making sour beers as well. We use our own beer and let it age in wood barrels, later we make a blend with Lambic.

Brewery Het Anker is a family-run brewery that has been brewing beer in Mechelen’s Grand Beguinage for six generations. During a visit with a guide you will discover one of the oldest breweries in Belgium. In 2010, the family farm in Blaasveld was turned into a whisky distillery. Since then, Belgian whisky has been distilled there from the malt mash of the Gouden Carolus beers. “Batteliek” opened in early 2022: a micro-brewery, micro-distillery and lemonade factory in a former church. A wonderful place where you can enjoy home-made drinks in the restobar or during a creative workshop!

La Brasserie Dupont est une ancienne ferme-brasserie. En 1920, cette ferme-brasserie est achetée par Alfred Dupont pour son fils Louis, agronome, afin de dissuader celui-ci de s’expatrier au Canada. Depuis cette époque, la Brasserie Dupont est restée une entreprise familiale et indépendante, dirigée aujourd’hui par Olivier Dedeycker, représentant la quatrième génération de cette famille de brasseurs. La Brasserie Dupont s’est spécialisée dans la production de bières de fermentation haute refermentées en bouteille : Moinette, Saison Dupont, Bons Vœux, … Les bières produites sont brassées de manière traditionnelle et sont réputées très typées : prédominance du houblon et des produits de la réelle refermentation en bouteille. Depuis 1990, une partie de la production est certifiée biologique : Moinette Bio*, Saison Dupont Bio*, Bière de Miel*, Biolégère *, … La Brasserie Dupont, c’est aussi une production de fromages affinés à la bière. Aujourd’hui, la production annuelle de bières dépasse les 30.000 hectolitres et l’exportation représente plus de 40% du volume.