Huisbrouwerij 't Pakhuis

In Antwerp’s Zuid district, Brouwerij ’t Pakhuis revived the idea of the city brewery in a former warehouse beside the Scheldt’s Southern Docks. Founded in 1996, it combined a visible brewhouse with a brasserie, allowing visitors to watch beer being made rather than encountering it only at the tap. Its identity grew from Antwerp location, family brewing experience, and a compact range of house beers. A brewery inside a warehouse The brewery opened at Vlaamsekaai 76 in Antwerp in 1996. Historical accounts describe the building as a former warehouse dating from the nineteenth century, renovated into both a brasserie and house brewery. The layout was deliberately made transparent: brewing could be followed from the dining area, turning production itself into part of the visitor experience. A modern Antwerp brewing family The project was associated with the Sterkens family of Meer, described as a long-established brewing family from the Kempen. Ed Van den Ouweland, initially responsible for the hospitality side, later took over the business and ran the brewery with his son. The brewery’s beers included Antwerps Blond, Antwerps Bruin, the seasonal Zwarte Sinjoor, and Den Bangelijke. A short but recorded chapter The Belgian Beer Name Register records ’t Pakhuis as operating in Antwerp from 1996 to 2023 and lists it as closed in 2023. That makes the brewery’s story a distinct late twentieth-century chapter in Antwerp’s brewing history: a city-centre house brewery established after decades in which the city’s traditional brewery population had sharply declined. A visible Antwerp house brewery that made the brewing process part of the beer’s identity. Vlaamsekaai, Antwerp, Belgium 1996 1996: Huisbrouwerij ’t Pakhuis opens at Vlaamsekaai in Antwerp. 2013: The brewery invests in its own bottling machine, enabling wider distribution of its beers. 2023: The Belgian Beer Name Register records the brewery as closed.