Brewery Van Honsebrouck

Brewery Van Honsebrouck

The Vanhonsebroek brewery began in 1865 with the first brews from Armandus Vanhonsebroeck.

In addition to his activity as mayor, Armandus also held a farm and a dairy in the same place. On the death of his father, the eldest, Emile, took over the activities.

In 1900, he decided to move the brewery to a farm in Ingelmunster, where it still stands today. After the First World War, the heirs decided that it was necessary to expand. They began major works in 1930 after several years of imagining a better future.

In 1939, they finally finished the work which is paid half in cash and the other half in beer (only in Belgium can you do such a thing). The timing of the new installations of the Vanhonsebroek brewery is not ideal with the beginnings of the Second World War but Ingelmunster will be relatively protected from the bombardments, since it was not a strategic place.

In 1945, the brewers decided that it was time to switch to bottom fermentation, they succeeded, but their pilsner beer did not survive and no longer exists today.

The Vanhonsebroek brewery also made gueuzes. Yes, you are not dreaming of gueuze in West Flanders, the brewery then getting its lambic from Brussels.

This event also made a lot of people cringe in the capital, it even led to what would later be called the Gueuze war. It all happened on the football pitch during a classico Anderlecht-Bruges, respectively sponsored by Belle-Vue and St. Louis. We no longer know the result of the match but for the two sponsors, this resulted in an unprecedented boost in sales.