Brouwerij Huyghe

Huyghe Brewery is rooted in the Appelhoek district of Melle, where brewing activity reaches back to the seventeenth century. The modern brewery grew from Léon Huyghe’s arrival in the town and became internationally recognisable through Delirium Tremens and its pink-elephant identity. Its history is distinctive for the way an old local brewing site developed into a multigenerational Belgian family brewery without losing its connection to Melle. An old brewing place in Melle The earliest documented brewing activity at the Appelhoek site dates to 1654. Léon Huyghe arrived from Poperinge in 1902 and began working at the local brewery. By the mid-1920s, his son Albert and son-in-law Louis Droesbeque had joined the business. The brewery’s official history records the transition from the former Den Appel name to Brewery Léon Huyghe in 1938. From local brewery to international emblem A decisive modern chapter began in the 1980s, when the brewery shifted from traditional pilsner production toward high-fermentation beers and began looking outward to export markets. Delirium Tremens was born on December 26, 1988, and its distinctive presentation helped make the brewery’s pink elephant an international symbol. Huyghe later expanded its portfolio with fruit, abbey, specialty and seasonal beers. Family continuity and brewing heritage Huyghe presents itself as a fourth-generation family brewery, still based in Melle and still connecting current production with the history of the Appelhoek site. A reception area and brewery museum were added in 1996, reflecting the family’s effort to preserve and share the brewery’s industrial and brewing heritage. Huyghe’s defining character is a long Melle brewing tradition carried forward by a family brewery whose pink elephant became a global Belgian beer emblem. Appelhoek, Melle, East Flanders, Belgium 1654: Brewing activity is documented at the Appelhoek site in Melle. 1902: Léon Huyghe arrives in Melle and begins working at the local brewery. 1925: Albert Huyghe and Louis Droesbeque join the brewery, strengthening the family business. 1938: The former Den Appel brewery is renamed Brewery Léon Huyghe. 1988: Delirium Tremens is first brewed on December 26.