Object #49- Brasserie de la Mule Hefe Weisse

2021

Brewery Life

Come to the “A History of Brussels Beer in 50 Objects” book launch in Brussels on 15 July!

“It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.” - Mark Twain

Once upon a time in Brussels, Bavarian bottom-fermented beers vied with English Pale Ales and Porters for supremacy. Brewed on German equipment by German brewmasters, Bocks and Bavières dominated brewing from the 1860s until 1914, after which local breweries switched their allegiances to homegrown Stouts and Scotch Ales.

Neither trend survived the 20th century. Grande Brasserie de Koekelberg, the last of Brussels’ German-inspired industrial breweries, closed in the late-1960s. 20 years later Wielemans-Ceuppens, loyal proponents of the English tendency, followed them into oblivion. But, as Samuel Clemens’ alter ego said, there’s nothing new under the sun - and certainly not in brewing.

And so, as the Brussels New Wave beer movement bounded into its second decade, history began repeating itself, in reverse chronological order. First came Brasserie La Jungle in early 2021 with the launch of an English Golden Ale. Brewing in an abandoned textile factory in Anderlecht, La Jungle firmly nailed their colours to the English mast by following up with an English Porter and English Bitter brewed with Kentish hops.

Brasserie de la Mule was next, looking east rather than across the Channel. Ex-Brasserie de la Senne brewer Joël Galy opened Mule in April 2021 in Schaarbeek, naming it after the neighbourhood’s mascots, the donkeys who transported Schaarbeekse Krieken from nearby orchards into Brussels for use in Kriekenlambiek. But despite also having done time with Brasserie Cantillon, Galy didn’t choose something spontaneously-fermented as Mule’s first beer. Instead, he brewed in the Bavarian tradition - a Hefe Weisse Naturtrüb wheat beer, which was soon followed by a Lager, Helles, Berliner Weisse, Kölsch, Dunkel Weisse, and even an homage to one of his favourite beers, Schneider Weisse’s Mein Hopfenweisse.

It’s unlikely either breweries took direct inspiration from their predecessors, and alongside these foreign styles they also produce more recognisably Belgian beers - Saisons, Blondes, Grisettes, and Table Beer. But in seeking a point of distinction in an increasingly (relatively) crowded market place they are not so much different from 19th century brewers betting on Bavarian beers, or their 1920s successors emulating their English counterparts.

Instead, these decisions are reflective of a maturing beer scene. There’s a new generation of brewers more confident in their abilities and their taste in beer. Sufficiently acclimatised to the world of Sours, IPAs, and Imperial Stouts, local drinkers are more adventurous too, and now there’s a whole ecosystem willing to encourage brewers in their gambles. It would have been unfathomable even a few years ago to think somewhere like Gist could put on an evening of La Jungle cask ales and sell out in hours. But they did. Repeatedly.

What the trajectories of La Jungle and Mule suggest is that Brussels beer is heading in unexpected - if occasionally familiar - directions. All we need now is for someone to convince Galy to brew a Bock beer and the circle really will be complete.