STRUISE BROUWERS (DE)

Black Albert (and its variants such as Black Damnation), Pannepot, Elliot Brew, Tsjeeses, St-Amatus, Cuvée Delphine, Imperialist, Aardmonnik, Ypres Reserva

Vleteren in West Flanders is sometimes considered by the American beer lovers as the brewery paradise in Belgium. If the Western part of the city can pride itself to accommodate a Trappist abbey producing one of the best beers in the world, Westvleteren, Struise Brouwers, which settled in Oostvleteren, were sacred the world's better brewers in 2008 by a specialised site.

These Struise Brouwers are four, Urbain Coutteau, Carlo Grootaert, Peter Braem and Philippe Driessens. The activity started in a completely amateur way, in 2001, by the development of a white one for visitors of a holiday estate in the region. Then it was necessary that a Danish distributor spread another beer from the Struise futures, Pannepot, in its country so that the local beer lovers, quickly followed by the Americans and Swede, praised this drink on the Internet. And the business started. The Struise Brouwers operated first during two years at Caulier in Péruwelz before taking over the facilities of Deca in Woesten in 2006. Today, the main part of the 3,000 hl annual is still produced at Deca.

Always in search of new tastes and new mixing, brewers rent however since 2009 the buildings of a former school in town. It is in this laboratory that “professor” Urbain Coutteau and his colleagues can work out the most creative formulas. A corridor of the school was in addition transformed into a small shop. You also have the opportunity to return on a bench to enjoy one of the beers of the moment.

Struise Brouwers intend to preserve a production at a small scale allowing them to control the quality of their products. No big stocks available therefore but real possibilities to discover new combinations for consumers including Americans and Scandinavian, present as from the first mash rake turn of Struise Brouwers.