Hanssens Artisanaal

Hanssens Artisanaal is a rare survivor of Belgium’s traditional gueuze-blending culture: a small family operation in Dworp whose present identity grew from a late-19th-century brewery, wartime upheaval, and the patient maturation and blending of lambic wort. Today, Sidy Hanssens and her husband John continue that lineage with Oude Geuze, Oude Kriek, Geuze Extra, Schaarbeekse Kriek, and other fruit lambics. From brewery to gueuze blendery The family’s brewing story reaches back to the 19th century, while the present Dworp site was established around 1896–1898. Bartholomé Hanssens’s Sint-Antonius brewery originally made brown table beer rather than lambic. During the First World War, German forces confiscated its copper equipment. In 1918, Bartholomé chose not to restart brewing, instead buying wort, maturing it, and blending it into gueuze—a decisive change that shaped Hanssens Artisanaal’s identity. A family tradition carried forward Theo Hanssens took over the business after his father’s death in 1928, and Jean later continued the blending work from 1974 until 1997. The company Hanssens Artisanaal was established in December 1997, when Sidy Hanssens and her husband John Matthijs took up the family business. The operation remains based at Vroenenbosstraat in Dworp and is described by local tourism authorities as a four-generation, family-owned gueuze blendery. Traditional lambic in a modern small-scale setting Hanssens Artisanaal is distinctive not because it is a large brewing house, but because it preserves the specialist role of the lambic blender. Its documented range includes Oude Geuze, Geuze Extra, Oude Kriek, Schaarbeekse Kriek, and fruit lambics. The brewery’s public profile also emphasizes fresh fruit rather than fruit syrups, including locally sourced Schaarbeekse cherries for its kriek tradition. A family gueuze blendery whose defining craft is the patient maturation and blending of lambic rather than conventional brewing alone. Dworp, Beersel, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 17 December 1997 1897: The historic gueuze-blendery complex at Vroenenbosstraat was established and registered as a brewery and blendery site. 1918: After wartime confiscation of its copper equipment, Bartholomé Hanssens shifted from brewing to purchasing wort and blending lambic. 1928: Theo Hanssens took over the business and continued the family’s lambic-blending tradition. 1974: Jean Hanssens succeeded his father Theo and continued producing gueuze and kriek. 1997: Hanssens Artisanaal was established as Sidy Hanssens and John Matthijs continued the family blendery.