Health Walking Route Ninove: From the brewery to the hop past in the countryside

The Santé Walking Route dives into the rich beer, brewery, and café heritage of Ninove.

‘Ninove drinks Slag Lager Pils’ can be read at Brewery Slaghmuylder. Slag Pils is only served in a few cafés in Ninove. With this walking plan, you will discover the stories behind these cafés, taste where Witkap is tapped, and wander through the beautiful fields and landscapes behind the brewery.

This is one of the two loops of the total walk. The entire walk takes you about 15 kilometers. Prefer just the city or just the countryside? That’s possible too! You can easily split the walk into two parts.

The route starts and ends at Brewery Slaghmuylder. The brewery and café Cornel on-site are only open for visits on special occasions. The brewery's shop is open every weekday from 8 to 12 and from 1 to 3 PM.

Did you know that…

- Brewery Slaghmuylder is the only remaining generational brewery in Denderland?

- The brewery used to be located in the center of Ninove?

- You can drink Witkap from the barrel in almost every Ninove café?

From the brewery to the hop past in the countryside

A walk through the fields behind a brewery: it immediately makes us think of hops!
From the late Middle Ages onwards, the Dender Valley grew into one of the most important hop regions in Europe. Slaghmuylder is also a proud bearer of the quality logo '100% Belgian hops'. Unfortunately, no hops are grown in Ninove today. We do not know exactly whether hops ever grew in this place, but a walk through the fields is the perfect opportunity to tell this story.

What is hop?

The hop plant is a climbing plant. The female flowers are called hop cones, and they provide the beer with its typical bitterness and improve its shelf life.
Hops have been used in our regions since the 14th century. Before that, brewers used a mix of herbs: gruit. Gruit gave flavor and spice, but did not ensure a longer shelf life.

From the second half of the 14th century onwards, hops were imported to our regions via the German Hanseatic cities. During that time, Ninove also had numerous hop fields. Sources indicate that there were about 33 hop fields in 1569, together covering approximately 5 hectares. Hops were also grown in the surrounding villages and found their way to the Ninove market. Some of that hop was even exported to other large cities, a sign that the yield was greater than what the local breweries needed.

Even in the 18th century, Ninove had a lively hop trade. Large quantities were transported by ship to Antwerp, and there were even official hop inspectors appointed by the city government.

Astens and hop cultivation

After harvesting, the hop cones were dried in an ast: a building with a drying oven. The hops were spread out on a wooden floor – the eest – underneath which a fire was lit. In the 16th century, Ninove had about 11 astens. Today, none are operational, but an old ast can still be found in nearby Meerbeke.

The end of hop cultivation in Ninove

In the 20th century, hop cultivation slowly disappeared from the region. After World War II, the rise of large-scale agriculture and chemical pesticides led to a sharp decline in small-scale hop farms. However, Brewery Slaghmuylder continued to source hops from the region for a long time. They collaborated with Alfons Temmerman from Erembodegem, who cultivated about 3 tons of organic hops annually in the traditional way.

For Witkap, specific hop varieties such as Saaz and Kent Golding are used. When Alfons stopped, the brewery switched to hops from Poperinge, who also cultivate these varieties.

More information

Curious about more disappeared cafés in Ninove? Be sure to check out Paul De Meulemeester's website: https://sites.google.com/view/ninovecafees.

More information about Brewery Slaghmuylder? Then surf to www.witkap.be.

More about Heritage Cell Denderland and the Santé project: https://erfgoedceldenderland.be/santé