Den Hoorn / Stella Brewing Hall

The Den Hoorn brewery is first mentioned in 1366, city registers show that the brewers paid taxes. In June 1708 brewer Sebastian Artois get his master diploma from the Den Hoorn brewery. His sons took over the business later.

In 1926 the brewery made a special Christmas beer, they named it Stella Artois (Stella means star in Latin) the beer was so good; it was drunk all year round. This beer is still brewed in Leuven. The Stella Artois brewery moved to the other side of the Leuven Canal and the old Den Hoorn brewery is left abandoned. The old copper beer coves are covered in dust. Too bad it’s not in use anymore; it would make a very nice museum or restaurant.

This brewery is situated in hometown, so we just HAD to visit it someday. A visit had been on our mind from the moment we knew this hobby was something “for us”. We had tried to get in a couple days after our first Urbex experience, but the place is hermetically sealed. Unless you can fly, or your name is Chuck Norris, it’s a no-go. Not visiting this dream location only 200meter from your house (yes, you can take that literally) was not an option of course. It was only a matter of time and a lot of lobbying… Was it worth it you ask? HECK YEAH!! For as far as I’m concerned, this was the best trip so far (maybe a shared first place with T&T)!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: