Brouwerij Urthel

Brouwerij Urthel is a distinctly modern Flemish beer venture: founded in Ruiselede by brewer Hildegard Overmeire and her husband, illustrator and marketer Bas van Ostaden. Its identity grew from their division of craft—she developed the beers, while he shaped the visual world around them. The result was a small Belgian brewery whose beers were made in a traditional-minded but distinctly individual style. A Ruiselede partnership Urthel began in 2000 in Ruiselede, West Flanders. Overmeire brought brewing expertise gained through industrial-engineering studies and brewery projects, while Van Ostaden contributed design, storytelling and marketing. Their interview describes the business as a two-person company, with brewing carried out in collaboration with De Koningshoeven in the Netherlands rather than at a large independent Urthel production plant. Flemish character, personal scale The brewery’s beers were presented as part of the Flemish specialty-beer tradition, but the founders resisted making them fit neatly into preset style categories. Their range included a traditional tripel, the hop-forward Hop-It and the strong Samaranth. The founders also emphasized working traditionally and avoiding chemical agents, while treating recipe development as an active, personal process rather than a formula copied from a style guide. Beer and visual identity Urthel’s name and presentation were inseparable from the couple’s creative partnership. Van Ostaden had already created the Erthel characters before the beer brand took shape; the name Urthel joined that imagined world to Overmeire’s brewing. That fantasy framing belongs to the brand’s design history, while the documented brewery history is grounded in a real Belgian enterprise founded by two people in Ruiselede. A Ruiselede brewery built around the rare combination of a brewer’s technical judgment and an illustrator’s complete brand vision. Ruiselede, West Flanders, Belgium 2000 2000: Hildegard Overmeire and Bas van Ostaden began their Urthel beer venture in Ruiselede. 2007: Urthel beers were being brewed in collaboration with De Koningshoeven in Berkel-Enschot, the Netherlands. 2008: The founders described Urthel as a two-person company producing a small range of specialty beers, including Hop-It and Samaranth.