Craft breweries and microbreweries Tournai

Inaugurated in 2017, Manufacture Urbaine is a project that aims to be sustainable, ethical and locavore around bread, beer and coffee. Because at the MU, we're brewers, bakers (sourdough and long-fermented breads) and roasters. The workshop space is vast and airy, all concrete, glass and steel, very pleasant. The brewery's four product ranges are highly varied: lager, white, black, table beer, IPA, amber and, last but not least, a triple. On the restaurant side, the menu features brasserie dishes using local, seasonal produce.

Roger Caulier and his three sons are the heirs to a family business, founded in 1933 and since 1980 housed in the former Tensier tannery in Peruwelz. They immediately made a name for themselves by selling their production in retro bottles with mechanical corks. Classics include Bon Secours and Paix-Dieu, billed as the first abbey beer brewed every full moon. It's served in a rather original glass, featuring the roundness of the moon but cut at an angle, "to highlight its aromas", explains the brewer.

Saison Pipaix, Steamed in Madness, Vapeur Cochonne

It was a brasserie but also a sawmill: it was necessary for benefitting from the driving force delivered by the steam engine which animated the facility since 1896. Typical example of close-brasserie, the brasserie with vapor of Pipaix goes back to 1785. In 1983, Jean-Louis Dits and his wife, thirty year and impassioned teachers local produce, take it again a few years after Gaston Biset hung up again the fourquet at a advanced age.

The business is not simple because equipment and the buildings are more than outdated. After several months of efforts, the first mash tub leaves the venerable tanks miraculously. Jean-Louis brews then old-style local beers, including the venerable Saison Pipaix, of which it adapted the recipe. That does not prevent it from offering many wines with picturesque names and labels often illustrated by his friend Louis-Michel Carpentier, the author of the cartoon who tells the colourful adventures of the owner of bistro of Brussels' Poje”.

In the meantime, the brasserie was partially equipped with modern equipment, to better sticky to date. And it is that the Vapor Makes a mess of comes to give it a boost, to become its reference product in 1992. Also declined in 33 Cl Cochonette., this dark amber 9% alc. flight is now the largest part of the production.

Next door, thus Saison de Pipaix (fair, hair, spicy, 6%), the Steam in Madness (strong of 8%). Very high fermentation, of course. But Jean-Louis offers regularly and in limited quantities of the most amazing mash tubs, including a beer or pumpkin leaves fig trees. It also made a Steamed Aquilon struck a label with lips… Jean-Louis Dits organizes during meal-tasting and public mash tub with restoration all last Saturday of the month. It also made exudes a Spirit of Vapor Makes a mess of, strong alcohol of 40% flight.

Founded in 1850, the brewery now produces a wide range of beers that combine contemporary and traditional tastes. In 1975, the small family business took over an old brewery in Enghien, owned since 1858 by the Tennstedt-De Croës family, and relaunched its production of Double Enghien Brune. The Double Enghien Blondewas added in 1986. As early as 1950, the family began producing a pilsner. From the 1990s onwards, the brewery expanded its range to appeal to a wider public, and now even offers an excellent organic beer.

Angélus (Blonde, Brune, Spéciale Noël), La Sambresse This brewery was set up ten years ago by Alain Brootcoorens at Erquelinnes, a small town close to the French border in the Walloon province of Hainaut. Run by Alain and a team of volunteers from the local area, the brewery produces about 150 hectolitres of beer per year. Its main beers are Angélus Blonde and Angélus Brune,with more limited quantities of Angélus Spéciale Noël (a Christmas beer) and Sambresse Blonde also being produced. In addition, the brewery produces a number of specially commissioned beers for other organisations and individuals.The brewery grows its own hops in a hopfield across the road. (According to Alain Brootcoorens, this is the only "educational hopfield in Wallonia".) It also organises the Sambre Valley hop festival every September. This includes a contest to find the best hop-picker.Meanwhile, an association called the "Jurande d'Angélus" has been set up by the brewery to promote the region through local products, tourism and, of course, the local beer. The association's logo depicts a boat hook and a brewer's mashing rake.

The Brasserie de Brunehaut was founded in 1891 in Guignies, a neighbouring village, under the leadership of the Allard-Groetembril family. Brunehaut and Extra Vieille Guignies are brewed here, whose nostalgic memories remain moving. But a century later, the brewery closed its doors. After several years of international peregrinations, a couple of brewers, Guy and Marie-Christine Valschaerts, bought it back but it was too old. They are now rebuilding a new one. The Brunehaut beers then regained their strength and a Bière du Mont Saint-Aubert was already created. After fifteen years at the head of "his" baby, Guy Valschaerts hands over to Marc-Antoine de Mees. Traditional brewing methods led to a complete range of beers, including gold or silver medals brought back from Chicago, which are certainly proof of excellence. Today, all production is certified organic and the Brunehaut range does not contain gluten. Marc-Antoine de Mees has refreshed the brewery's image with new bottles and redesigned labels, while the Abbey of Saint-Martin has become a fully-fledged range.