EP034 | Janos De Baets of DOK Brewing Company, Ghent
Release Date: 12/14/2021
EP054 | The Modern Beer Game
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
The Flemish city of Turnhout is the playing card capital of the world. Turnhout is to playing cards what Kobe is to Japanese Wagyu beef; what Parma is to Italian Prosciutto; what Fez is to leather. The biggest card-producing company in the world, Cartamundi, is headquartered in Turnhout. 1.3 million decks of cards are produced there every single day. If you have ever played poker, performed a magic trick with cards, traded Pokémon cards, or played Monopoly, Risk, Clue, or Catan, then you’ve touched something that comes from Turnhout. The beers of Brouwerij Het Nest of Turnhout are all...
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EP053 | Mule Head
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
Joël Galy is the quietly punkish, Swedish-born but Belgian-raised brewer of Brasserie de la Mule. Brasserie de la Mule is a brewery and taproom-slash-music venue that’s housed in an abandoned tram shed in Brussels’ Schaerbeek neighbourhood. De la Mule specialises in German styles of beer. I sat down with Joël in his taproom for a chat about how he approaches German styles in Belgium, what he’s learned from parenting to make him a better leader in the brewery, how he landed jobs as a brewer at Brasserie de la Senne and Brasserie Cantillon before starting his own business, and why...
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EP052 | How Westvleteren 12 Accidentally Became The Best Beer In The World
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
As we approach the twenty year anniversary of Westvleteren 12’s original crowning by RateBeer, Jonny Garrett examines how a strong dark ale produced by a tiny monastery brewery in North West Belgium became the world’s most sought-after beer
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EP051 | Belgian Beer World
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
No other country in the world has a national beer experience centre costing €100 million and housed in one of the most iconic buildings in its capital. Today, we're talking to Krishan Maudgal of the Belgian Brewers Federation about Belgian Beer World.
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EP050 | Mariage Parfait and the Evolution of Lambic
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
Claire Bullen meets the Boons — Frank, Karel, and Jos — to find out how their Mariage Parfait Oude Geuze speaks to the legacy of Lambic. Breandán Kearney hosts.
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EP049 | Blending Lambic at the Sollenberg Crossroads
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
Through his Lambic blendery Het Boerenerf, Senne Eylenbosch saved his father’s farm, discovered his own identity, and began the next chapter in his family’s storied Lambic heritage. In this discussion, Senne Eylenbosch and Breandán Kearney talk about the things Senne learned working at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, how he’s conflicted about his family’s brewing heritage, how he blends the way he does, how he feels about now being able to use his family name in his business, and where he sees his place in the Lambic ecosystem.
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EP048 | Tingles in the Jungle
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
In 2020, three young Belgians started a brewery with an ambition to cohesively merge their widely diverging beer tastes—pastoral Belgian ales, traditional English styles, and mixed fermentation beers packed with fruit. They’d have to do it against a challenging backdrop: disinterest from Brussels drinkers in unfamiliar styles, rolling pandemic lock-downs, the fracturing of their original triumvirate, a global energy crisis, and an increasingly cut-throat beer market. In Belgian beer, it’s survival of the fittest: you live by the law of the jungle. In this episode, Breandán Kearney sits...
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EP047 | The Belgian Coast
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
Belgium has purchase on a roughly 65 kilometre stretch of North Sea coast. With a cumulative six Michelin stars in restaurants in the region, the coast has a density of just over 1 Michelin-starred restaurant for every 10 kilometres. There are breweries too—at least three, depending on your definition and geographical scope (Brouwerij St Idesbald, Jus de Mer, and Stadsbrouwerij Oostende ‘t Koelschip)—and many cafés, restaurants, and bistros with something to offer your non-Michelin guide reader. These businesses and the towns they occupy are all strung out alongside or...
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EP046 | Belgian Beer Festivals
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
Belgium has a rich festival scene. Every single weekend in the year, you could choose between a multitude of music shows, food markets, neighbourhood parties, and cultural shows. Its beer festival circuit is equally rich. From village fairs to international events, Belgians celebrate beer at festivals like few other nations. In this podcast, we’re talking Belgian beer festivals with three guests who organise prominent, but wonderfully different beer festivals in Belgium: Stéfan Cauwenbergs of Billie’s Craft Beer Festival; Bart Vanneste of Bruges Beer Festival; and Jan Machiel van...
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EP045 | The Lambic Roundtable
The Belgian Smaak Podcast
The Lambic Roundtable was an event during the Toer de Geuze 2022 tailor-made for broadcasting in beer bars all over the world, and as you’ll hear from the discussion, we took questions live from bars with strong reputations for Lambic in different countries. Sitting at the Lambic Roundtable with were Gert Christiaens, Frank Boon, Kloris Devillé, and Stu Stuart. During the evening’s conversation, we talked about the challenges of organising such an event after a COVID hiatus, the ways in which HORAL is changing as an organisation, how the Megablend was produced for the Toer, and why the...
info_outlineJanos De Baets is the Head Brewer and Co-Owner of DOK Brewing Co. in Ghent. We chatted about his self-admitted obsessive personality trait.