The MAK Brewery Timeline
Our story
Wondering how it all started? Scroll with us through our hoppy adventure and discover how the ten guys from MAK Brewery started brewing unforgettable friendship.
Start Beerwall
01/09/2013
The source of our beautiful story is our love for beer. For years on end we have enjoyed drinking delicious Belgian beers together as MAKkers. We decided to collect all the different beers we tasted and immortalize them on a beerwall. The rules were simple: all beers had to be Belgian and had to be tasted by at least one of us personally, before they could be displayed on the wall. Soon we noticed that we had embarked on an impossible journey. Beer culture was on its way, and our thirst could barely keep up with innovation.
Brewing for the first time
21/05/2017
Due to the growing interest in beer and the knowledge we acquired in tasting all that Belgian barley juice, the idea grew for us to start brewing ourselves. We noticed that we seldom all agreed on the taste of a beer and our exact taste did not exist yet. We decided that we would have to stir the pots ourselves. From that moment on we only wanted one thing: to be able to place our own beer on our beerwall. No sooner said than done. We looked for an old acquaintance we knew from the village who was already home brewing himself. He thought us the necessary knowledge and assisted us on our first day of brewing. A day never to forget.
The first order is in
23/04/2018
Like bears who smelled honey, people from the village came to listen to our story. Soon we noticed that there was a great interest in tasting the beer we brewed ourselves. Their support gave us a boost to go one step further with our project. We decided to commercialize our tripel in a large quantity in order for us to meet the demand. That question ended up becoming the name of our triple: "MAK es pruuve?"
Planting our first hop
24/05/2018
We were bitten by the virus, or rather the yeast, and wanted to go even further in acquiring beer knowledge. An indispensable ingredient of beer is hops. It provides freshness in the mouth and a delicious smell in the nose. To learn more about it, we decided to grow our own hops. We drove to Poperinge, the birthplace of Belgian hops, and came back with a load of hop shoots to fill our vegetable garden.
Launching "MAK eens proeven?"
23/06/2018
The beer, which we had brewed in large quantities to answer the demand for 'MAK es pruuve?', was now ready. Proud as we were, we decided to gather all our close friends and followers to crack open the first bottles together. On this day we launched our tripel all over the region, and soon after we received a lot of nice comments.
MAK paté at Luc
28/09/2018
A local butcher saw, tasted, and said it was good. He was determined to do something unique with our beer. He bought a load of our "MAK es pruuve?" and got on with it. The result: a delicious paté that perfectly matched our tripel as a snack.
Adding to the Beerwall
01/08/2019
Our dream was realized. Our own beer was on our beerwall. In the meantime, it had grown considerably and already consisted of 1200 bottles, making it one of the largest collections in Belgium.
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Someone new in the brew!
16/08/2019
The mission of our brewery is as follows: "Brewing unforgettable friendship!" We wanted to continue this ideology in all the lines of our brewery. What began as an adventure with nine friends soon evolved into a journey with a tenth partner. Douglas joined our team to experience the friendship even more.
Brewing our second beer
01/11/2019
In the meantime, we were not sitting still within the R&D team. A second beer was developed and found to be the perfect addition to our first tripel. The beer in question was baptized under the name MAKnifique.
MAK Brewery on VTM
13/11/2019
After the paté of our local butcher, we were determined to continue walking on the path of food pairing. Our good friend Loïc Van Impe, better known as the house chef at VTM Koken, started cooking with our beer and dedicated a full episode of his program 'Loïc Zot Van Koken' to our beer company. The dishes he put together were delicious.
MAK Brewery wins "Double Gold" on EBC
14/11/2019
MAK Brewery was awarded a double gold medal at the European Beer Challenge 2019 in London. The greatest recognition we could have wished for. We can call ourselves one of the best tripels of Europe for at least one year.
Tasting of our MAKnifique
27/11/2019
Our MAKnifique was introduced to the general public. We organized a big tasting event where everyone could come and enjoy our new beer. The first reactions were very positive.
MAK Brewery on Radio 1
06/01/2020
The victory with our Double Gold Medal did not go unnoticed. We were invited in the Radio 1 program 'De Wereld van Sofie', where we were allowed to tell our story once more.
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Rebranding to "MAK es pruuve?"
10/02/2020
In order to make our story shine even more, we decided to give our beer bottles a new look in order to put our mission and vision even more in the spotlight.
Launching of our MAKnifique
27/06/2020
The last thing we wanted to do after brewing a tripel, was following the "expected" route. It is often that after a blond beer, the brown counterparty follows. To us, that's a trend from the past. The growing interest for special beers, with the emphasis on special, brought us to the unique taste of a Saison beer. The new beer unites complex hops with fresh spices and a subtly malted body. The results bring a fresh, floral beer, with a an accesible alcohol percentage of 5.7%. The summary touch of elderflower creates an aftertaste that makes you wish for more.
MAKnifique wins bronze medal at Asia Beer Challenge
28/08/2020
With their ‘MAKnifique’, MAK Brewery is the only Belgian Brewery to achieve a medal in the ‘Saison’ category at the most prestigious beer competition in Asia: the Asia Beer Challenge 2020.
MAK Brewery wins "Double Gold" yet again!
29/11/2020
A year after the first participation, MAK Brewery wins prizes once again at one of the most prestigious beer competitions in the world: ‘The European Beer Challenge’ (EBC). Just like last year, the medal of our Tripel ‘MAK es pruuve?’ colored magnificently gold. However, our newcomer ‘MAKnifique’ also ran away with the highest metal. Both of our beers were selected during a blind taste test and were praised for their taste and quality! It’s obvious that the product of our friendship is one to be proud of!