Crowdfunding tapped for new micro-brewery venture

The Brussels Beer Project to create atypical beers has assembled a budget of more than €50,000 in six months via crowdfunding. The initiators, two entrepreneurs in the capital, will launch two beers in January – one of them with a chocolate taste. The next step is to found a micro-brewery.

Since Olivier de Brauwere and Sébastien Morvan set up the project this summer, about 370 people have pledged financial support. The two brewers create prototypes of new beers and let the public decide which should be developed and brought to market. Their first beer, called Delta, was selected during 10 tastings in Brussels and was brewed at Brewery Anders in Halen, Limburg province.

In January, the entrepreneurs will introduce their two new creations, one of which will be the dark version of the current Delta beer. The second, developed with a Canadian brewery, is a special dark beer with a typical local ingredient: chocolate. Initially, 500 bottles of the chocolate beer will be produced.

The two are now searching for a convenient location in the city for a micro-brewery – preferably in the centre or canal area. The site should be at least 500 square metres and will house an open brewery, where visitors can walk in and out freely.

www.beerproject.be