About us

Organic beers

Gert decided to brew only organic beers at the start, a deliberate choice based on his ideological views. Starting an organic brewery was not easy when you know that there was only one brewery in Belgium at the time that produced exclusively organic beers.

In order to obtain the organic label, a number of conditions must be met. The organic label indicates that the ingredients for that product consist of at least 95% organic raw materials, in concrete terms this means that no chemical pesticides or artificial fertilizers were used during cultivation. Furthermore, it is prohibited to add artificial fragrances, colorants or flavourings or to use genetically modified ingredients. All these conditions are guaranteed by a system of independent control organizations that carry out random checks on a regular basis. Certificates must be added as proof from the raw materials to the production process. These raw materials are also more expensive than conventional products.

European organic logo

We carry the European organic logo for all our beers. When we started, we were 1 of 4 breweries in Belgium that only marketed organic beers. This is now growing steadily. We also only use Belgian organic hops from Joris Cambie from Poperinge.

Gert, together with the other Belgian brewers of organic beers, proves that there is certainly a growing market for organic beers and that the pursuit of quality must remain a main goal in this sector.

Who is Gert as a person?

Gert is described as passionate about what he does. Both in his assignments as an ICT consultant and as a supervisor of people in their learning process in the wonderful world of beer. This can be for the development of a new beer, a beer tasting or as a teacher at Syntra.

We already ate locally and organically before we started the brewery. My grandfather Louis was my great inspiration here, who grew his own vegetables and fruit in a spacious vegetable garden with orchard.

His interest in the broader (ecological) world made him take courses in brewing with wild herbs, creating food forests, making candles, Tai Chi, silent meditations, Falun Dafa Qigong, …

This ecological interest not only led to the creation of unique beers with specific ingredients or brewing methods, but also to a house full of innovations that you would not immediately expect behind this facade. A short summary:

• Already in 1998 we started with a food forest ‘avant la lettre’ in our city garden, which was later walled, a dream became reality.
• During construction we immediately provided rainwater storage, this was later expanded with extra capacity and to make it pleasant you can now also swim in it.
• A drinking water filter was added to these rainwater buffers so that we can provide our own drinking water supply.
• In 2024 a Finoven was built by Christel with the help of a professional. This Finoven provides most of the heat in the living areas and you can make delicious stews in it. It is the cozy heart of the house to receive friends in the chilly winter months where everyone can lie down on the heated benches while enjoying a delicious beer, but of course that can also be a coffee in the traditional way in a cafetiere. The necessary wood is obtained as much as possible by pruning trees. For this purpose we have planted 16 willows at the brewery. For over 25 years I have been regularly found in various men’s groups around a fire, in an exciting place or with an interesting speaker. These meetings have brought me to Spain, Bulgaria, Italy & the Netherlands in addition to Flanders.

Since the start of the ‘Local Exchange and Trading System’ in Limburg, we have been very active in this barter trade. Once a year we host a quarterly meeting in the brewery.

We consistently use the right means of transport for our transport, (non-electric) bicycle for short trips, public transport where possible, freight transport is outsourced if desired, a rented means of transport according to the size of the load (instead of purchasing a van with one has to fit all) or our own car on CNG. We strive to use these means of transport sustainably by using them for as long as possible (in time and kilometres driven).