Brouwerij Hoegaarden

In the 18th century, the town of Hoegaarden had so many breweries and malthouses that brewed wheat beer and turned the town into a bustling center for wheat beer.

in 1957 the last brewery (Tomsin) closed in Hoegaarden.

In 1965, milkman Pierre started brewing the not-forgotten wheat beer in a copper boiler in his milk shed. Production soon increased and he moved to a larger building 'De Kluis'.

In 1985 there was no longer any question of a small company with a production of 75,000 hectoliters per year.

Just as Pierre was about to export to the United States, a major fire shattered his dream (and beer). The brewery was destroyed. Since the reconstruction cost millions and Pierre could not afford it, Interbrew (AB-inbev) stepped in and made probably the best purchase they had ever made. A Belgian beer full of character was saved from destruction.