Perhaps they had too much time on their hands. Or they were sick of the sacramental wine. Maybe it was divine inspiration? We’ll never know for sure. What we do know is that the Hoegaarden monks were the first to discover the unique recipe for wheat beer around 1445.

Wheat beer caused a bit of a stir in Hoegaarden. In all honesty, Hoegaarden became one big brewery in the 18th century. In 1709, the village had no less than 12 breweries. In 1726, that number had increased to 36. Oh and let’s not forget the 110 malt houses.

The last brewery in Hoegaarden, Tomsin, closed shop in 1957. Soon after, in 1965, the villagers decided to take action to preserve the original recipe. Milkman Pierre Celis took the bull by the horns and started brewing up a batch in his milk shed, using only a copper boiler.