Brouwerij Boelens

In Belsele, Brouwerij Boelens carries a brewing identity shaped by two neighboring family traditions: the Boelens family of Lokeren, known for grain trading, malting and brewing, and the De Meester family’s brewery in Belsele. After wartime disruption reduced the business to bottling and distribution, Kris Boelens revived brewing in the late twentieth century, bringing the family name back into active production. Two families, one Belsele brewery The Boelens family originated in Lokeren, while the De Meesters operated Brewery De Valk in Belsele. The families became linked through the brewery established on Kerkstraat after the mid-nineteenth century, first known as De Meester-Boelens. This local connection remains the foundation of the present Brouwerij Boelens. From brewing to bottling—and back The brewery’s beer production stopped for several decades after two world wars, although the family continued bottling and distributing beer and soft drinks through its cafés. In 1978, Kris Boelens took over the family beer trade and reintroduced brewing in Belsele. His son Yannick joined the brewery in 2016, extending the family succession into another generation. A Belsele family brewery whose modern identity grew from nineteenth-century brewing roots, wartime survival and a late-twentieth-century revival. Belsele, Sint-Niklaas, East Flanders, Belgium c. 1864 c. 1864: Brouwerij/Mouterij Boelens was established in connection with the Boelens brewing family of Lokeren. after 1850: Brewery De Meester-Boelens was established on Kerkstraat in Belsele, the site of the present brewery. 1897: The founding De Meester brewer died; a Boelens family member from Lokeren was asked to continue the Belsele brewery. 1978: Kris Boelens took over the family beer trade and reintroduced brewing in Belsele. 2016: Yannick Boelens joined the brewery.