Saying cheers to history on tap

Sightseers who flocked to a grand reopening of the refurbished Brussels Stock Exchange building last weekend were invited to chase the visit down with a side order of Belgium’s top tipple – beer. The €90 million (about R1.8 billion) makeover of the bourse, once a temple to capitalism, tempted passers-by from the cafe bars of the capital’s old town.

Thanks to the new Belgian Beer World, they did not go thirsty. Belgian beer culture is listed by Unesco as part of the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. It is a source of pride for many locals and a big draw for tourists from around the world.

But even though beer is ubiquitous here, the Brussels scene lacked a focal point for visitors or if you’re a jaded glass-half-full drinker – a promotional vehicle for Belgium’s vast global booze industry. Traders moved out of the 1868 neo-classical Palace de la Bourse or Beurspaleis in 2014. The Belgian exchange has now merged with former competitors in Paris and Amsterdam to form Euronext.

A cultural and economic hub in Brussels

So when the city refurbished the historic building, the brewers were on hand to stand their round and sponsor a fitting modern beer museum and rooftop bar for their star export.

On Saturday, when the refurbished bourse reopened to the public, 11 000 people passed through to see the trading hall and 566 – including a tourist from as far away as Singapore – stopped by Beer World.

 “A lot of interesting interactions, features that involve the participants, all the visitors,” said the tourist, who gave his name as Su.

“I believe that all beer drinkers – if they wish to have a good understanding about the whole process, about the history of the beer – it’s definitely a place for them to visit.”

Opening the centre this week, Brussels mayor Philippe Close acknowledged beyond the culture of beer, the museum was “a way to support a huge economic sector”. Belgium has at least 430 brewers in the small nation.

They range from the mighty AB Inbev – which pours a third of the planet’s pints – to tiny Trappist monasteries. The monasteries sell one eagerly sought-after batch of ale per year to patient punters on a waiting list.

The trade federation, Belgian Brewers, estimates its members employ 6 900 people directly and supports 50 000 more jobs in a country of only 11.5 million. Some 70% of Belgian beer is exported, not just to neighbours in Europe’s beer-drinking north, but around the world.

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A €17 Ticket for 1,600 flavours

Tickets for the Beer World are a hefty €17 – but it does get you your first drink in the rooftop bar – with its vast selection drawn from the 1 600 types of beer the country has to offer.

Belgian brewers are not as conservative as their German and Dutch neighbours. The sour, bubbly lambic and gueuze styles – “Brussels Champagne” – are Belgium’s own.

But many beers, including the big brands like Jupiler or Stella Artois, are based on the Czech and German Pilsner style.

There are even Scotch ales in thistle-shaped glasses, allegedly introduced to entertain General Montgomery’s British Second Army when it arrived in September 1944. And younger small scale brewers have begun making hoppy Belgian pale ales to rival the best of the US craft beer explosion.

Beer World administrator Charles Leclef – a 30-year veteran Flemish brewery operator – said the city wanted to capture the “playful” side of the everyday tipple, and not to incite heavy drinking.

“We’re not the biggest producer in the world, far from it, but we’re perhaps the most creative, with beer of great diversity of flavour, great complexity,” Leclef boasted.

Exploring the brewing process and flavour innovation

In the museum, visitors can wander inside a virtual fermentation tank with immersive screens taking them inside the process of turning hops, malt, yeast and water into national pride.

In Germany, the law forbids any but these four ingredients, but Belgian brew masters are free to experiment with spices and infusions and even fruits like cherry or raspberry.

Museum visitors can pull taps to signal their favourite flavours. “Virtual waiters” are also on hand to print out a suggestion on a beermat to be ordered later at the guests’ leisure.

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