Biercentrum Delvaux and Brouwerij de Kroon

(Photo, above: from left, Dr. Filip Delvaux, 

Dr. Freddy Delvaux, and Peter Delvaux,

inside the new but still under construction 

brewhouse, at Brouwerij De Kroon.)

      

There are a lot of very interesting projects going on in the Belgian beer world 

right now, and I’ve had the privilege of visiting many of them in the last couple 

of years.

One that really stood out during my December 2012 trip will be a major 

destination spot for beer lovers from around the world. The principals involved 

are big names in the Belgian beer world, and internationally.

(Photo: the site before renovations began.)

Professor Emeritus Freddy Delvaux of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and 

sons Dr. Filip Delvaux and Peter Delvaux, are working on a multi-purpose site 

called Biercentrum Delvaux and Brouwerij de Kroon.
This translates as "Beer Center Delvaux and the Crown Brewery."

(Photo: a look from the street.)

Dr. Freddy Delvaux is an expert on brewing science, quality control, and recipe 

creation who worked at what is now AB-Inbev in Leuven for 17 years, and then 

went on to create a laboratory of brewing science at the University in Leuven, 

where he has worked to this day. The lab began with a 60-liter test brewery and 

was later expanded it to 500 liters. Courses on brewing science are offered, and 

the brewing school at KU Leuven has awarded over twenty doctorates.

   His son Filip was awarded his Ph.D. for his studies on Belgian witbier, and 

has worked at the University lab for 15 years himself. The two formed a 

consulting company where they perform quality control, recipe creation, and 

lab analysis for about twenty breweries, most of which are in Belgium.  

(Photo: part of the brewery complex prior to

renovations.)

   During my visit on 14 December, Filip told me: “I usually visit each one 

of the breweries we consult for about once a month, to discuss the results of 

our analysis from the previous month, and to pick up new samples for testing. 

So we always have fresh beer here.”

 That’s certainly a nice advantage of visiting breweries on a regular basis!

Freddy then mentioned: “About 3 or 4 years ago, we started thinking about 

doing something different, as normally I would have to retire at age 65 in 

Belgium. I’m past that by a couple of years now, and will likely retire from 

my position at KU Leuven in the near future. So, we looked for a suitable 

site for our plans and found this place.”

(Photo: a brewkettle in the old brewery.)

The locale is Brouwerij De Kroon (The Crown) in Neerijse, a little town 

about 10 km south of Leuven. De Kroon opened in 1897, and closed in 

1972. The German army took away the brewery’s copper brewkettles 

during the First World War. The circa 1920’s to 1930’s brewhouse still 

exists, with a mash tun, direct-fired boiling kettle, and a coolship. The 

boiling kettle is 35 hl in size.

(Photo: another old brewing kettle.)

The old brewhouse still needs renovation, and will be a museum when it 

opens. The last owner’s grandson still lives on site, and will conduct tours 

of the old brewery. Look for a couple of 1955 Opel Blitz beer delivery 

trucks to add to the museum experience. Very cool, it shall be.

(Photo: one more old piece of brewing 

equipment.)

“Let’s see the new brewery now,” Dr. Filip Delvaux suggested. I agreed, 

without hesitation. “This is a 5-hectoliter (about 4 U.S. barrel) Italian built 

Velo system, where we will make many experimental beers. It is fully 

automated, so we can do as many as three or four batches a day if we want,” 

Freddy commented. He continued: “We will serve these beers in the brewpub 

that will also be constructed here. We’ll have piping running under the brewery 

to the brewpub, and there will be four duotank serving vessels there.”

Filip added: “We haven’t yet decided how many taps we will have in the 

brewpub. But there won’t be too many, as we want to make sure all the beer 

served here is fresh. At first, all our beers will be exclusively served on site. 

Down the road sometime, maybe we will offer special cafes some of our beers. 

But that is something we will decide in the future.”

(Photo: this will be the second floor tasting room, 

where tastings and lectures will be given. It is above 

the brewpub's main floor.) 

“We additionally have some old recipes from the old De Kroon brewery, and 

we may try and recreate them on our new brewery,” Filip commented, smiling.

“We will also have guest beers on tap and in bottles from the breweries that we 

consult for,” Freddy remarked. Some of the experimental brews may end up 

being new beers at breweries that enlist the Delvaux’s services.

Above the brewpub, which will serve food, including beer cuisine, there is 

a tasting room where courses/lectures about beer will be given. I suspect that 

some of the brewers reading this article will be sitting in that room taking a 

course in the not too distant future…and that you will be loving every minute 

of it!!

Peter Delvaux ran an event management company for 15 years, and he will 

manage the brewpub, marketing for it, and events associated with it.

Barrel-aging, you ask? Yes, indeed. Ask and ye shall receive: “It’s another 

very interesting thing that we want to do here, and we will have barrels in 

the cellar, aging various things. But we won’t tell you all our secrets about 

that yet,” Filip commented, grinning.

(Photos: the coolship/koelschip in the old

brewery.)

Hmmm, with a renovated coolship in the old brewery, and barrels in the 

cellar…it makes one think of what goes on in places on the south and west 

sides of Brussels. Places like Beersel, Itterbeek, Kobbegem, Lembeek, 

St-Ulriks-Kapelle, and Vlezenbeek. But I won’t mention the “L” word here.

Neerijse is in the Province of Flemish Brabant, as is the Payottenland. 

Will spontaneous fermentation be a part of Brouwerij de Kroon? Only time 

will tell, but my fingers are crossed for the answer to be….yes! J

(Photo: inside the new lab at Biercentrum Delvaux.)

The lab that Drs. Freddy and Filip Delvaux ran at the University in Leuven 

was moved to the new site in mid-November, and it is now officially named 

Biercentrum Delvaux. “Beer starts and ends here. So, we got the lab up and 

running first,” Freddy remarked. It is definitely a high-tech laboratory, as 

demonstrated by the equipment I saw inside. Two women were conducting 

labwork during my visit, late on a Friday afternoon. I had the feeling that 

sipping a Belgian beer wasn’t too far off in their future that evening.

(Photo: inside the new lab.)

“This is what we call a beer center. Science, tasting, history, and brewing,” 

Freddy said, beaming. Filip added: “To summarize, Biercentrum Delvaux 

is the brewing lab which serves the Belgian brewing industry with technical 

consulting, an analytical lab, product development and research. Brouwerij 

de Kroon will encompass the old museum brewery, the new, small-scale 

brewery, and brewpub with tasting room. There, you can learn about ancient 

and modern brewing, and taste house-brewed beers, and a selection of 

Belgian specialty beers. In short, it will be the place to be for Belgian beer 

lovers!”

(Photo: a baudelot/heat exchanger in the old brewery.)

As is obvious from the photos, the project is still a work in progress. The 

Delvaux’s began brewing on February 12, and plan to open to the public 

on April 22nd. That, my friends, is the weekend before the Zythos Beer 

Fest (ZBF), which is Belgium’s biggest.

(Photo: the old brewery under renovations.)

“We started work here on 28 April 2012,” Freddy told me, as we sipped 

a brew after my visit. “It would be nice to be open within a year, especially 

by the time of the ZBF weekend.”

Happily, it looks like that will happen! However, please note that the 

April 22nd opening date is not an absolute guarantee. You never know what 

can come up at the last minute when opening a new brewery, restaurant, and 

the like.

(Photo: on the second floor of the old brewery,

where the coolship is.)

I have even more good news for those taking public transport in Belgium: 

there is a bus that runs from Leuven and stops at the brewery, which runs 

till 11 pm weeknights, and till 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights. It takes 

about 15 minutes. I’m not going to tell you which one, yet, until the marvelous 

new beer destination is open to the public.

        Cheers to Biercentrum Delvaux and Brouwerij de Kroon!!

Special thanks go to Marie and Tourism Vlaams-Brabant for
their help. See here for more info on the Province of Flemish Brabant
and here for more info on Flanders.

(Photo: new fermenters in the new brewery.)

(Photo: brewing equipment under renovation.)

(Photo: an old bottling line.)