Brussels beer bazaar

Ten of Brussels’ newest brewers feature in a three-day festival kicking off today (21 November) at the See U centre, a temporary urban space set up in at a former police barracks in Ixelles.

The U Beer Bazaar at the former Fritz Toussaint barracks features L’Annexe, Beerstorming, Bières de Quartiers, Brasserie de La Senne, Brussels Beer Project, La Cambre, Illegaal, No Science, La Petite Réserve and La Source.

Jonathan Ectors, coordinator of the See U centre says 14 Brussels microbrewers were invited to showcase the best of the Brussels’ craft scene but the others, like L’Ermitage, were unable to attend due to previous commitments, though all were interested in the event.

“For us, local microbrewing is a movement that matches with the DNA of our project which is sustainability, innovation, culture and family,” Ectors said in an interview with Beer Idiots. “We saw that there is no specific event exclusively dedicated to Brussels’ brewers. We consider this event as a co-production with them.” 

Temporary occupation

See U is a temporary operation at the 25,000 sq. m. site, which is being redeveloped to include the creation by ULB and VUB, an innovative inter-university sustainable development cluster. The site hosts around 100 temporary occupants during the transitional phase for two years, such as the Dutch-language Lutgardis primary school, the ULB-VUB FabLab, and a vintage cinema. Young businesses are attracted to the site due to the low rent available as they try to make their operations profitable. 

The inspiration for the event came after See U began featuring Illegaal‘s beers at a bar on the site. Illegaal is a non-profit that sells beers to support artists and cultural events. The beers started selling really fast and the See U team saw an opportunity to feature beers from micro-brewers in Brussels every two weeks.