Discover Benelux, Issue 57, September 2018

Page 104

Discover Benelux  |  Culture Feature  |  Belgian Beer Weekend

Photo: Visit Flanders

A weekend celebrating Belgian beer in Brussels TEXT: STUART FORSTER  |  PHOTOS: VISIT BRUSSELS, JEAN-PAUL REMY

Brussels will host the 2018 Belgian Beer Weekend from 7 to 9 September. Around 60,000 beer lovers are expected at the Grote Markt (Grand-Place), the Belgian capital’s central square, to participate in the annual celebration of brewing. Tents serving beers brewed by members of the association of Belgian Brewers will be erected on the cobbled square, which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. The Belgian Brewers association is significantly older, tracing its origins to a guild founded during the 14th 104  |  Issue 57  |  September 2018

century. The organisation’s headquarters overlooks the square, bearing the gilded inscription ‘Maison des Brasseurs’. The building, which was designed by the architect Willem De Bruyn, is topped by a gleaming equine statue depicting Charles of Lorraine, who was once a benefactor of the guild. The Belgian Beer Weekend begins with an afternoon service at Brussels’ St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral, including a celebration of St Arnold, the patron saint of brewers, and a blessing of beer that will be drunk over the weekend. At the town

hall, select invitees can then attend a ceremony featuring the Ridderschap van de Roerstok der Brouwers — Knights of the Order of the Mash Staff — whose members wear red robes plus flat-topped black and red hats. Individuals who have played an outstanding role in brewing or promoting Belgian beer, are honoured by the order, by being knighted with one of the wooden paddles that are more commonly used to stir ingredients in the mash tub. The order’s grand master will be among dignitaries, including Brussels’ mayor, who will oversee the formal inauguration of the beer stalls on the Grote Markt.


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