The Belgian Smaak Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

The Belgian Smaak Podcast

Breandán Kearney

Arts

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/64d. Total Eps: 54

Breandán Kearney sits down with some of the most high-profile people in the world of Belgian beer to discuss beer styles, brands, and the stories behind the breweries and to find out what makes beer culture in Belgium so special.

Read moreCollapse

Site

RSS

Data updated on 14/07/2026

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

No recent rankings available

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.

See all

https://www.belgianbeerme.com/
1 share

RSS feed quality and score

Technical evaluation of the podcast's RSS feed quality and structure.

See all

RSS feed quality

To improve

Score global : 32%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

Recent episodes with titles, durations, and descriptions.

See all

EP054 | The Modern Beer Game

Thursday, July 17, 2025 • Duration 01:28:56

The Flemish city of Turnhout is the playing card capital of the world.

Turnhout is to playing cards what Kobe is to Japanese Wagyu beef; what Parma is to Italian Prosciutto; what Fez is to leather. The biggest card-producing company in the world, Cartamundi, is headquartered in Turnhout. 1.3 million decks of cards are produced there every single day. If you have ever played poker, performed a magic trick with cards, traded Pokémon cards, or played Monopoly, Risk, Clue, or Catan, then you’ve touched something that comes from Turnhout.

The beers of Brouwerij Het Nest of Turnhout are all branded according to a playing card theme. Their most famous beer is their Tripel—the Schuppenboer—Jack of Spades. They started out as a homebrewing collective in 2000 and then in 2015 set up their own brewery.

This podcast is about how a regional brewery in Belgium goes about navigating the pitfalls of the modern beer game: Bart Cuypers of Het Nest and his colleagues would suffer legal headaches due to their playing card branding; there would be COVID closures and a war in Ukraine that would send brewery energy costs through the roof across Europe; export markets on which they relied would collapse like a house of cards; and Belgium’s attitude to alcohol—especially amongst its young—would shift more quickly than they could ever have imagined.

So—in the face of mounting industry challenges, how should a brewery play the modern beer game?

The owners of Brouwerij Het Nest of Turnhout—the world capital of playing cards—gambled on the brewery’s future with strategy, ambition, and a little bit of luck.

Listen in to find out how.

Read moreCollapse

EP053 | Mule Head

Thursday, March 27, 2025 • Duration 01:40:56

Joël Galy is the quietly punkish, Swedish-born but Belgian-raised brewer of Brasserie de la Mule.

Brasserie de la Mule is a brewery and taproom-slash-music venue that’s housed in an abandoned tram shed in Brussels’ Schaerbeek neighbourhood. De la Mule specialises in German styles of beer.

I sat down with Joël in his taproom for a chat about how he approaches German styles in Belgium, what he’s learned from parenting to make him a better leader in the brewery, how he landed jobs as a brewer at Brasserie de la Senne and Brasserie Cantillon before starting his own business, and why everyone’s got it wrong about Belgian Saison.

Sit back, listen, and enjoy our interview with Joël Galy of Brasserie de la Mule.

Read moreCollapse

EP052 | How Westvleteren 12 Accidentally Became The Best Beer In The World

Monday, December 23, 2024 • Duration 01:13:17

As we approach the twenty year anniversary of Westvleteren 12’s original crowning by RateBeer, Jonny Garrett examines how a strong dark ale produced by a tiny monastery brewery in North West Belgium became the world’s most sought-after beer

Read moreCollapse

EP051 | Belgian Beer World

Wednesday, August 21, 2024 • Duration 01:07:03

No other country in the world has a national beer experience centre costing €100 million and housed in one of the most iconic buildings in its capital. Today, we're talking to Krishan Maudgal of the Belgian Brewers Federation about Belgian Beer World.

Read moreCollapse

EP050 | Mariage Parfait and the Evolution of Lambic

Monday, May 6, 2024 • Duration 01:11:36

Claire Bullen meets the Boons — Frank, Karel, and Jos — to find out how their Mariage Parfait Oude Geuze speaks to the legacy of Lambic. Breandán Kearney hosts.

EP049 | Blending Lambic at the Sollenberg Crossroads

Thursday, May 2, 2024 • Duration 01:59:34

Through his Lambic blendery Het Boerenerf, Senne Eylenbosch saved his father’s farm, discovered his own identity, and began the next chapter in his family’s storied Lambic heritage.

In this discussion, Senne Eylenbosch and Breandán Kearney talk about the things Senne learned working at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, how he’s conflicted about his family’s brewing heritage, how he blends the way he does, how he feels about now being able to use his family name in his business, and where he sees his place in the Lambic ecosystem.

Read moreCollapse

EP048 | Tingles in the Jungle

Wednesday, November 22, 2023 • Duration 01:22:28

In 2020, three young Belgians started a brewery with an ambition to cohesively merge their widely diverging beer tastes—pastoral Belgian ales, traditional English styles, and mixed fermentation beers packed with fruit.

They’d have to do it against a challenging backdrop: disinterest from Brussels drinkers in unfamiliar styles, rolling pandemic lock-downs, the fracturing of their original triumvirate, a global energy crisis, and an increasingly cut-throat beer market.

In Belgian beer, it’s survival of the fittest: you live by the law of the jungle.

In this episode, Breandán Kearney sits down with Félix Damien and Christophe Bravin of Brasserie La Jungle.

Read moreCollapse

EP047 | The Belgian Coast

Wednesday, September 20, 2023 • Duration 01:35:41

Belgium has purchase on a roughly 65 kilometre stretch of North Sea coast. With a cumulative six Michelin stars in restaurants in the region, the coast has a density of just over 1 Michelin-starred restaurant for every 10 kilometres.

There are breweries too—at least three, depending on your definition and geographical scope (Brouwerij St Idesbald, Jus de Mer, and Stadsbrouwerij Oostende ‘t Koelschip)—and many cafés, restaurants, and bistros with something to offer your non-Michelin guide reader.

These businesses and the towns they occupy are all strung out alongside or straddling the metal tracks of Tram 0, the Kusttram, Belgium’s coastal tramline.

67 kilometres long and comprising 68 stops, the tram has been trundling leisurely between these pleasure centres for 137 years. It’s the longest single tram line in the world.

Eoghan Walsh, beer writer and fellow Irishman in Belgium, took the Kusttram the length of the coast to explore its food and drink culture.

Read moreCollapse

EP046 | Belgian Beer Festivals

Wednesday, June 21, 2023 • Duration 01:54:06

Belgium has a rich festival scene. Every single weekend in the year, you could choose between a multitude of music shows, food markets, neighbourhood parties, and cultural shows. Its beer festival circuit is equally rich. From village fairs to international events, Belgians celebrate beer at festivals like few other nations.

In this podcast, we’re talking Belgian beer festivals with three guests who organise prominent, but wonderfully different beer festivals in Belgium: Stéfan Cauwenbergs of Billie’s Craft Beer Festival; Bart Vanneste of Bruges Beer Festival; and Jan Machiel van Bragt of the Kerstbierfestival.

We talked about the diverse profiles of each of their festivals, how beer festivals in Belgium might be different than in other countries, the challenges and joys of running a festival in Belgium, and how they see the festival scene evolving in the coming years.

Read moreCollapse

EP045 | The Lambic Roundtable

Wednesday, May 24, 2023 • Duration 01:32:12

The Lambic Roundtable was an event during the Toer de Geuze 2022 tailor-made for broadcasting in beer bars all over the world, and as you’ll hear from the discussion, we took questions live from bars with strong reputations for Lambic in different countries. Sitting at the Lambic Roundtable with were Gert Christiaens, Frank Boon, Kloris Devillé, and Stu Stuart.

During the evening’s conversation, we talked about the challenges of organising such an event after a COVID hiatus, the ways in which HORAL is changing as an organisation, how the Megablend was produced for the Toer, and why the internationalisation of Lambic is so important for its future. We also took questions from the bars and their patrons watching from around the world.

Read moreCollapse

The Belgian Smaak Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

The Belgian Smaak Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other1