Brewed together with passion

Affligem isn’t a solo act. There isn’t one mad genius pulling the strings in our brewery. It’s the work of many brewers, working together as a dedicated team, passing on our ancient recipes from generation to generation. We’ve been brewing our Belgian ales for longer than electricity has been a thing – in fact our recipes date all the way back to when 6 monks started to brew the first Affligem in 1074. It’s why we’ve won so many awards for our beer.

"When you work with fellow brewers, you’re instantly friends. It’s more than shared passion: we’re family."

An old Affligem brewers’ proverb.

Making the Perfect Beer

The Affligem brewery feels likes just like a small, friendly, family business. A devoted team work together, learning from each other’s expertise, sharing their fierce commitment to the craft of brewing. It may get loud in our busy brewery, with all the noise from our modern equipment, but the abbeys’ spirt of Felix Concordia – happy in harmony –very much continues. Our centuries of heritage blend effortlessly into our passion for modern brewing methods.

It all starts with Malt

Our exceptional quality barley is naturally high in starch, giving our beer its rounded quality. Our brewers get hands on to check the quality of the malt, they don’t just look at it, but also feel and smell it in order to check it properly. It ensures that it’s of the high standard needed.

Get ready to brew!

If there’s a ‘secret’ ingredient to our beer, it’s the irreplaceable human touch of our brewers working together. At every step they use their keen senses to make the small adjustments. Their commitment to perfection is the rarest ingredient of all. You need trust, and our brewers have a ton of it. Each is focused on their own highly specialized task – like a well-oiled machine working in harmony.

Not just milling around

First, we mill our 100% barley malt and start mashing. In our mill our brewers break down the malt barley’s outer husk, so the inside of the grain can mix with mineral water, releasing its starch. Then our brewers mix the malt with locally sourced water and activate its enzymes in a heated mash tun, producing wort.

Things heat up

The wort is placed in boiling copper containers. Hops are added at the beginning and at the end of the boiling process; we uniquely use high quality, single variety European hops like Savinsjki Golding, and Spalter Select, which gives our beer its mildly bitter quality. Our brewers personally guarantee the quality of all of our hops to ensure freshness.

Spin it & Cool it

We then spin the wort in our whirlpool (no recreational use allowed), removing hops and protein sediment from the mixture. The beer is then rested and cooled with sterile air. It’s ready for the yeast. We’re getting closer and closer to our final, oh-so-special, product.

It’s alive! Time to ferment

Now for the key step. We start the fermentation process, and our typical Belgian house yeast is added. It’s this yeast that gives all our beer it’s characteristic rich and smooth signature taste. Our brewers would sell their own grandparents before giving up our house yeast.

A well-earned rest

Next our beer is matured in our storage tanks, cooled to a brisk -2 C. Our brewers rest the beer for a full 7 days, which gives it a better head, and an even a better taste.

Taste-testing

Before we bottle and draught our beers, our team of brewers take the time to taste, and enjoy, all of them. They’re passionate about checking that all of our beer is of the same superior quality. That and they get a bit thirsty working so hard.

The final step: enjoy with loved ones

Be sure to savor our beer with friends and family. And we hope that when you take a sip of our smooth & rich ale, you’ll feel the passion and teamwork that goes into every single bottle.

Discover more about
Affligem’s long history