Monday, February 09, 2009

Trades Day in Belgium

On Sunday hundreds of traditional trades' people opened their doors all over Belgium to display their passion and handicrafts. Chocolate makers, furniture makers, sculptors, hat makers, stylist, photographers, jewelers and brewers held open house.

Trade's Day in Belgium was sponsored by various business organisations in Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels as well as national organisations. Under the slogan 'They have golden hands, hundreds of crafts and trades people showed their wares to the general public.

One of the popular places of interest was the Flemish Brabant Brewery Oud Beersel. It was a family business for 150 years, spanning five generations. The brewer now is Gert Christiaens who studied to be an economist. Five years ago he heard that the brewery had shut down. Driven by his love of the traditional 'lambic' beer, he took up contact with the last brewer, decided to take a crash course in beer brewing, and took over brewing the beer according to the old traditional method. There were sceptics, but the brewery is doing great business now and receives visitors from all over the world, including people from the United States and Japan. For more information visit the brewery's website here.

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