What can be more fun than just driving around Belgium and see wat you bump into? That’s the way I ended up in Aarschot, a town of about 16.000 inhabitants on the river Demer, in the east of the Flemish Brabant province. A historical town, with a large church and a beguinage, though unfortunately the two world wars have left a trail of destruction. Another thing that has affected local built heritage is neglect, if the way the historical Duke’s watermills were left to fall into ruin is anything to go by. Only in 2010 have these been renovated and modernised. In any case, I wouldn’t be writing about this if Aarschot didn’t have its own beer: the ‘Aarschotse Bruine’, or Aarschot Brown. (more…)

Belgium is the open air museum of beer. Nowhere else so many wonderful old beer types and production methods have been preserved. Yet, Belgium has its share of lost beers. Fallen out of favour, lost from the nation’s book of recipes. Luckily, once in a while such a ‘lost beer’ is brought back to life. Which is nice, because historic beer is at its best when you can drink it. Here are five beers that (in a few cases, very locally) you can taste again. And if you want to have a go at brewing authentic beers yourself, check out my historic recipes…

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