Lindemans, Vlezenbeek

The first recorded brewing session under the Lindemans name took place in 1809. First generation brewer Frans Lindemans married into the family, who owned the land where the brewery is located.

Frans Lindemans passed away in 1830 and was succeeded by his son Joos Frans, who was also a mayor of Vlezenbeek. Joos had a total of eleven children, only one of whom was interested in taking over the brewery after he passed away in 1865. This son, Duc Lindemans, constructed the buildings and brewing hall which still stand on the property today. Only one of Duc’s nine children succeeded their father in the brewing business. In 1901, Theofiel Martin took over the brewing at Lindemans.

By the 1930’s, the brewing aspect of the farm was so successful that the family discontinued the farming business to concentrate solely on making lambic, gueuze, and kriek. 

In 1930, Theofiel eventually passed the brewing on to one of his four children, Emiel Jozef. 

Emiel married in 1937 and passed away in 1956. During that time he fathered two sons, René (1939) and Nestor (1941). When Emiel passed away, both sons were too young to continue operations at the farm and brewery. All farming was again stopped Triphon Antoons, helmed the Lindemans brewing operations. Up to the point that Emiel passed away, the brewery was still only producing lambic for other blenders and café owners and not bottling on their own.

By 1963, René and Nestor had finished their studies and took over operations at the brewery. René, who studied brewing, became the head brewer while his brother Nestor, who studied accounting, handled the sales and administrative aspect of the business. As café blenders began to close their doors Lindemans began to produce sweetened lambics after the 1972-73 season to supplement the income of supplying wort to independent blenders.

Over time, Lindemans eventually abandoned the oak casks used to age lambics in favor of stainless steel tanks with wood shavings added in so that the lambic would still come in contact with wood, in accordance with Belgian law. As the brewery’s popularity continued to grow, more storage space was required. Plans to construct new buildings to house a bottling line and warehouses were completed and finally approved by 2002.

Since 2006, the seventh generation of Lindemans has been in charge of the brewery with René’s son Geert and Nestor’s son Dirk.

In 2013, with demand for lambic products increasing around the world, Lindemans began working on a new expansion that would increase the storage capacity to 170,000 hectoliters. At a cost of 15 million euros, the new space was dedicated on April 28, 2015. This new space houses a bottling line, more storage area for barrels, and new office space. The coolship and brewhouse remained intact.