De Halve Maan Brewery - Bruges

The Walplein is the entrance to the De Halve Maan brewery, best known for the beers Straffe Hendrik and Brugse Zot .

Upon entering, we immediately step over a glass capping stone that offers a view of the world-famous underground beer pipeline that was installed in 2016 and is 3.3 km long to transport the beer from the historic center of Bruges to the bottling plant on the edge of the city.

Beer has been brewed on this site for 5 centuries , known as the 'Die Maene' brewery. In 1856 the brewery comes into the hands of Henri Maes , succeeded by Henri II, Henri III and Henri IV. Hence the name for the beer 'Straffe Hen(d)rik . The brewery passes to the daughter, Véronique Maes, in the sixth generation to come into the hands of her son Xavier Vanneste, who launches the 'Brugse Zot'. In 2018, he launched the first non- alcoholic beer in Belgium: the 'Sportzot' . The alcohol is naturally extracted from the beer.

Visit: The beers can be tasted in the authentic courtyard . There is a brasserie with an old bottling machine and a gift shop . A visit to the brewery is possible. You also get a 360° view of Bruges from above. The Brewery Museum of Bruges is located in the cellars.

Willem Vandenameele