Ertvelde

Ertvelde is a village in the municipality of Evergem, north of Ghent in East Flanders. One of Evergem’s main village centres, it has a brewing connection stretching back to 1784.

That year, Jan Baptist De Bruyne added brewing to his farming activities here, establishing the brewery originally known as De Peer. Through successive generations of the Schelfaut and Van Steenberge families, it developed into today’s Brouwerij Van Steenberge, which remains based in Ertvelde.

The brewery is now known internationally for beers including Gulden Draak, Piraat, Augustijn and Fourchette. Some of these have strong connections elsewhere — particularly Augustijn and Gentse Tripel with nearby Ghent — but the brewery itself belongs firmly to Ertvelde.

Van Steenberge remains independent and family-run, making brewing an unusually visible part of the identity of this small East Flemish village.