EP010 | Olivier de Brauwere of Brussels Beer Project

years ago, two young men—one from Belgium, the other from France—started a crowdfunded beer project in the city of Brussels which involved a community of people choosing beers and contributing to their production. The beers chosen were produced at a contract facility in the province of Limburg, Brouwerij Anders. The enterprise was a success. The crowdfunding continued and the two men—Olivier De Brauwere and Sebastien Morvan—decided to build a pilot brewery to enable them to continue creating beers with the growing community that helped launch them. At the same time, they maintained production of their core beers at the Anders facility. Brussels Beer Project is located on rue Antoine Dansaert, close to the centre of Brussels, and has become a popular stop-off for regular beer tourists and a generation of inquisitive young people living in the area. Morvan was born in Brittany in Northern France. De Brauwere is a Brusselaar through and through. Both have a background in commerce and marketing. Their branding is clearly defined and their tag-line, bold: “Leave the Abbey, Join the Playground.” In our conversation—recorded last year—we discuss how they went about building that community and where they hope it takes them in the future, as well as the projects they are currently undertaking, most notably a Brussels Beer Project in Tokyo, Japan. We also discuss their response to the criticism they have received for the way they do business—contract brewing—and hear their thoughts on Belgium as a place where discussions about beer are sensitive because of the historic and societal role it traditionally plays in a culture which they believe does not like risk and does not celebrate success or failure. And we talk about how difficult it is to define words like ‘craft’ in Belgium and find out that they see it connected more to values and a spirit of creativity than to any other criteria. Sit back, listen and enjoy Olivier De Brauwere of Brussels Beer Project.