Oostvleteren

Black Albert (and its variants such as Black Damnation), Pannepot, Kloeke Blonde, Westhoek, Struise Rosse, Tsjeese While the western part of Vleteren in West Flanders may be seen by many as a beerlover's paradise (think Westvleteren 12), it's in East Vleteren that the Struise Brouwers are based - and in 2008, they were voted the best brewers in the world by an American website.The four Struise Brouwers ("sturdy brewers" in English) - Urbain Coutteau, Carlo Grootaert, Peter Braem and Philippe Driessens - began brewing as amateurs in 2001 when they created a white beer for visitors to a campsite in the region. Another beer, Pannepot, found its way on to the Danish market and before long Danes, Swedes and Americans were extolling its virtues on the internet. The business developed from there.For two years, the Struise Brouwers made their beers at the Caulier brewery in Péruwelz before switching in 2006 to Deca in Woesten. (See separate sections on both these breweries.) Currently, most of the brewery's annual production of 1,700hl is made at Deca, but the brewers are always on the look-out for new flavours and combinations and they work on new creative recipes in an old school building which they have rented since 2009. They have turned one of the school's corridors into a little shop where you can taste and buy one of the beers they've been working on.The Struise Brouwers intend to retain this small-scale brewing facility and the opportunity it gives them both to control the quality of their beer and to introduce consumers to new recipes - even if stocks will inevitably be limited.