Brasserie Wielemans-Ceuppens

Brasserie Wielemans-Ceuppens was one of the great industrial breweries of Brussels. The business began in 1862, when Lambert Wielemans and his wife Constance-Ida Ceuppens entered the beer trade. After Lambert’s death, Constance and her sons began brewing for themselves in 1868, initially from rented premises in central Brussels.

In 1879 the family bought a large site at Forest, then still largely countryside, and transferred production there. After visiting breweries in Germany and Austria in 1884, the brothers increasingly embraced bottom-fermented beer. Pils and Munich-style beers gradually displaced the brewery’s earlier lambic and dark beers, reflecting the changing tastes that would transform Belgian brewing.

The Forest brewery grew into an enormous industrial complex and, during its peak years, became one of Europe’s most important breweries. Its best-known later beer was Wiel’s, a pils brand introduced in 1940 and subsequently widely associated with Brussels café culture.

The company lost its independence after Artois acquired control from 1978 onwards. Production at Forest was progressively dismantled and finally ceased in 1988.

Part of the brewery survives. The striking 1930 brewhouse designed by Adrien Blomme is now WIELS, a contemporary art centre named after the former beer. Its restored brewing hall still contains the original copper vessels and other elements of the brewery’s industrial past.