The Belgian Smaak Podcast

In this episode, Breandán Kearney sits down with Edward Vandermeersch of Rolling Hills brewery in Oudenaarde to discuss family, Oud Bruin, and learning how to live.  

In the past year, Belgian family breweries Het Anker and De Ryck have ended generations of family ownership. Family breweries sit at the heart of Belgian beer but the topic of generational handover in these breweries is rarely spoken about in much detail: what it means to inherit a brewery, to carry a family name forward, and to take responsibility for something that existed long before any of us were born. Three family brewers—Céline Lefebvre from Brasserie Lefebvre (sixth generation), Albert De Brabandere from Brouwerij De Brabandere (fifth generation), and Karel Boon from Brouwerij Boon (second generation)—sit down with Breandán Kearney to talk about what it takes to inherit a legacy, deal with succession, and decide how to navigate challenging economics.

2026 will mark the ten-year anniversary of the UNESCO recognition of Belgian beer culture as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity (the only country in the world to do so). The behind-the-scenes story of how Belgium pulled it off—with plot twists and political wrangling and strategic compromise—demonstrates the essence of the country's character: ruthlessly pragmatic and quietly persuasive.

The Flemish city of Turnhout is the playing card capital of the world. Turnhout is to playing cards what Kobe is to Japanese Wagyu beef; what Parma is to Italian Prosciutto; what Fez is to leather. The biggest card-producing company in the world, Cartamundi, is headquartered in Turnhout. 1.3 million decks of cards are produced there every single day. If you have ever played poker, performed a magic trick with cards, traded Pokémon cards, or played Monopoly, Risk, Clue, or Catan, then you've touched something that comes from Turnhout. The beers of Brouwerij Het Nest of Turnhout are all branded according to a playing card theme. Their most famous beer is their Tripel—the Schuppenboer—Jack of Spades. They started out as a homebrewing collective in 2000 and then in 2015 set up their own brewery. This podcast is about how a regional brewery in Belgium goes about navigating the pitfalls of the modern beer game: Bart Cuypers of Het Nest and his colleagues would suffer legal headaches due to their playing card branding; there would be COVID closures and a war in Ukraine that would send brewery energy costs through the roof across Europe; export markets on which they relied would collapse like a house of cards; and Belgium's attitude to alcohol—especially amongst its young—would shift more quickly than they could ever have imagined.  So—in the face of mounting industry challenges, how should a brewery play the modern beer game?  The owners of Brouwerij Het Nest of Turnhout—the world capital of playing cards—gambled on the brewery's future with strategy, ambition, and a little bit of luck. Listen in to find out how.

Joël Galy is the quietly punkish, Swedish-born but Belgian-raised brewer of Brasserie de la Mule. Brasserie de la Mule is a brewery and taproom-slash-music venue that's housed in an abandoned tram shed in Brussels' Schaerbeek neighbourhood. De la Mule specialises in German styles of beer. I sat down with Joël in his taproom for a chat about how he approaches German styles in Belgium, what he's learned from parenting to make him a better leader in the brewery, how he landed jobs as a brewer at Brasserie de la Senne and Brasserie Cantillon before starting his own business, and why everyone's got it wrong about Belgian Saison.   Sit back, listen, and enjoy our interview with Joël Galy of Brasserie de la Mule.