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HOLD ON A SECOND, this isn’t the podcast you’re used to listening to, you’re probably thinking. And it’s not - it’s a wee trailer for our sister podcast, Cabin Fever, which has cooked up something special to celebrate a very peculiar Christmas. Have a listen… Didn’t Eoghan say the podcast was done when lockdown ended in the summer? Well, yes, I did, because I expected - or at least hoped - that there wouldn’t be a second lockdown. But here we are. And while Lockdown 1.0 gave us the Cabin Fever Podcast. Lockdown 2.0 is going one better and giving us the Cabin Fever Belgian Christmas Bonanza - a livestreamed evening on Thursday December 3rd, where we can celebrate the holidays  together while enjoying a drink-along of a selection of Belgian Christmas beers! In the company of some of the world's beer beer writers (and drinkers), we'll drink 4 beers, play Christmas-themed quizzes, sing carols, maybe some prize giveaways, and whatever else happens on an evening spent drinking 10%+ beers. I’m delighted to have teamed up with London’s Hop Burns and Black, and Belgium’s Etre Gourmet on tasting packs for the event. In each of these we’ve put some superb Belgian Christmas beers, including these classics:  St.Bernardus Christmas Ale De Dolle Brouwers Stille Nacht Brouwerij De Ranke Pere Noel If you order with Etre Gourmet your 4th beer will be Brasserie de la Senne's Winter Mess And if you order from Hop Burns and Black your 4th beer will be Anspach & Hobday's The Pfeffernüsse Stout And if you can't get hold of them, get something local and independently-brewed wherever you find yourself! We’ll be live on YouTube on December 3, so be sure to join. You can find the link to the youtube stream in the show notes, and more details will be coming across Brussels Beer City’s twitter, facebook and instagram. So, stay tuned and see you on December 3rd!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LddGvzbexLg 

Hannelore Goeman is a Brussels-based Belgian politician and the leader of parliamentary delegation of the sp.a, the Flemish social democratic party, in the Flemish parliament. Over Zoom, Hannelore talks about Her early student adventures after moving from Leuven in Brussels, whether or not she would qualify as a stereotypical Dansaertvlaming, why Brussels is never boring but why its untapped potential led her to her political career and her focus on educational opportunity, and the different stages of Covid lockdown-induced mania.I hope you enjoy. This is the final episode of the first season of the Brussels Beer City City Podcast, and the first one where Covid finally thwarted our efforts to record it. As you’ll hear, this week’s interview took place not in my guests favourite bar but from the comfort of our respective living rooms. Brussels is in the middle of a month-long Covid lockdown with bars, cafés and restaurants all closed. But we did our best to keep the mood positive, even if Covid talk did sneak in towards the end. And as I mentioned, it’s also the last episode of what is just the first season of many of the Brussels Beer City podcast. In addition to putting the whole thing in limbo, the current context may mean some tweaks to the format if or when a second season does appear. But regardless, thank you for listening, and I’d love to hear your suggestions for guests for future episodes, so get in touch in the usual social media channels! It’s been a hugely enjoyable experience for me, and I hope you listeners have enjoyed it too. Unless the world collapses in on itself over Christmas, I hope to be back for a new season early in 2021, so keep an eye on at br beer city on twitter, and Brussels beer city on facebook and Instagram for up dates. If there’s anyone who you’d really like to have, then let me know through the same channels. And if you did enjoy the podcast, rate and review on iTunes and we can keep it in the top 200 arts podcasts in Belgium! For one last time, thank you to all of may guests, all you listeners, and my wonderful illustrators Krump and Herlinde Demaerel for all their work on the podcast! Anyway, on with the episode!

My guest on this, the penultimate episode of this season is Jean Van Roy. Van Roy is the owner of Brussels brewery Brasserie Cantillon. Brewery doesn’t quite cover it though, because Cantillon is also a museum and a living piece of a part of the city’s heritage that almost disappeared - the funky, tart, confrontational spontaneously-fermented wheat beers called Lambic (here’s a beginner’s guide to what Lambic - and Gueuze - is for the uninitiated) that are indigenous to this part of Belgium. On a scorching hot early September day on the eve of brewing season for Cantillon, we met at a bar influential not only for the city but also for him, and his family brewery. We talk lambic evangelisation in a country that still doesn’t really get it, his youthful escapades drinking crap beer with friends, how is approach to brewing has changed thanks to his relationships with winemakers and chefs, and how the brewery’s corridors ring hollow and lonely in the absence of American, Italian and other foreign accents. I hope you enjoy.

Eagled eared listeners will have noticed that this week’s episode is arriving on a Friday and not the customary Wednesday. That’s because on on Wednesday I was busy with the launch of my new book! Brussels Beer City: Stories from Brussels brewing past is now available. If you’re in Brussels you can get a copy at Waterstones, Malt Attacks, Fermenthings, and Dekkera. If you’re not you can order print and ebook copies on Amazon, and the list of stockists is being updated constantly, so check out beercity.brussels/book for more. I was especially happy to have this week’s guest on the show. Herlinde Demaerel is an illustrator and graphic design artist, from Belgium originally but now living in Greece. Herlinde is the superb artist behind the illustrations that accompany each episode of this podcast, so I was delighted to have her on to talk about her inspiration and her connection with Brussels. In a converted petrol station, we talk about what prompted her to move from the Flemish countryside town of Hoegaarden - of the eponymous beer - what Brussels offers that a Greek island doesn’t, and vice versa, and where she draws inspiration for her illustrations and artwork - which you can find here! Enjoy the episode.

Before I introduce today’s guest, a quick bit of housekeeping. I’m delighted to say I’ve written a book. Or more specifically, published a collection of stories written for Brussels Beer City and Belgian Beer and Food Magazine, brought together for the first time under the title Brussels Beer City: Stories from Brussels Brewing Past. It’s a collection that, for the first time in english, charts the rise and fall of Brussels as a brewing capital of Europe, and the people and families that were there to see it. More excitingly I’ve teamed up with Brussels Beer Project for the book launch, brewing a very special beer to mark the occasion. Both book and beer will be launched at the BBP brewery on October 7, with details to come on registration, etc. in the meantime, you can find out more about the book, and pre-order your e-book copy, at beercity.brussels/book. And with that, let’s get onto our guest. Frederik Willem Daem is a Brussels native, born and raised in Jette. Daem is a writer, novelist and musician. His first collection of short stories was published in 2015 and was awarded the Debuutprijs 2016. His debut novel, Tekens van Leven, followed in 2020, and has since been shortlisted for De Bronzen Uil, the annual award for the best Dutch-language debut. In the summer lull between Covid restrictions, I joined Frederik at one of his regular central Brussels haunts, where we talk the benefits of the anonymous city, the iconography that make up the archetypal city café and how one became a central character in his debut novel, the Brussels café regulars that populate the book, the peculiarities of Brussels, and how they protect it from metropolitan homogenisation, and building a real-life café from his imagination for the launch of his book. Enjoy the episode.

Elisabeth Debourse, journalist, writer of the weekly Mordant newsletter, and host of several podcasts - one of which, Salade Tout, is currently in production for its second season - is my guest on today's episode of the Brussels Beer City Podcast. Over a lunchtime beer at a central Brussels cheese bar, we talk about how she is very much not a food journalist but a writer engaged in societal questions of which food is one fascinating part, frustration as a creative wellspring, the need to break out of our bubbles if we want to deal with race and representation in the Belgian food world, and having to taste terrible shrimp croquettes. Listen in!

My guest on today’s episode is Nacim Menu, co-founder of Brussels brewery Nanobrasserie L’Ermitage. Nacim takes my to his favourite wine bar in St Gilles, where we talk escaping the Wallonian countryside for Brussels, being a young dad in Brussels, his journey from win to beer via his first Cantillon lambic, how a transformative visit to Canada changed his life and set him on the path to opening a brewery - and Brussels as a proper party town. As you will have guessed, the podcast has moved from a weekly to a bi-weekly schedule, so it should be dropping in your podcast stream every two weeks from now on. And with that, on with the show!

My guest on today’s episode is Rachael Moore. Rachael is the Coordinator of RainbowHouse Brussels, the city’s umbrella organization of the LGBTQI associations. In the bar downstairs from her office, we talk about her journey from Liverpool to Brussels (and, crucially, which of the city’s football teams she supports), celebrating Pride during a pandemic, and the hate-love relationship with Brussels, which despite the city’s best efforts, leans towards love. As you will have guessed, the podcast has moved from a weekly to a bi-weekly schedule, so it should be dropping in your podcast stream every two weeks from now on. And, I’m already looking ahead to season 2, and I want to hear from listeners who they would like to see come on as guests. So send me your suggestions in the usual channels and I’ll see what I can do! And with that, on with the show!

My guest on today’s episode is Michiel Van Meervenne, a journalist and entrepreneur, and co-founder of the Brussels food company Kriket, making confectionary using protein sourced from crickets grown locally in Brussels, At a central Brussels haunt from his old school days, over a Taras Boulba from local brewery Brasserie de la Senne, Michiel talks about how it took him some time to really feel like a Brussels local, why eating crickets is absurd, surreal, and very much in keeping with Brussels’ self-perception, and how suffering through the greyness of Brussels is making him feel like an old man. Quick note for context, this episode was recorded before the Covid-19 lockdown in Brussels and the global anti-racist movement that has emerged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

My guest on today’s episode is Souria Cheurfi. Souria is the editor in chief of VICE Belgium and the founder of Psst madamoiselle, pluridisciplinary events organiser promoting female artists. She specialises in culture, women's and LGBTQ rights, and music. At a Japanese izakaya on the Brussels canal, we talk about carving out a space for female performers in the Brussels music scene and the thrill of seeing them become successful and visible, why she ended up working at Vice, and how the freedom of Brussels shaped her into the person she is now. Quick note for context, this episode was recorded before the Covid-19 lockdown in Brussels and the global anti-racist movement that has emerged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

My name is Eoghan Walsh, and this is the Brussels Beer City Podcast. My guest on today’s episode is My guest on today’s episode is Joost Vandecasteele. Joost is a hard man to pin down, as you’ll hear. A comedian, writer, playwright, activist and now video game developer, Joost takes me to his safe space in Anderlecht. Over a coffee and a kriek, we have a freewheeling conversation that touches on being a radical softie, Brussels as a masculine city and why it’s like Los Angeles, by way of Qanon, William Gibson and JG Ballard. Joost’s latest project, The Almost Gone - a puzzle video game - is available now on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and on the Google and Apple app stores. Quick note for context, this episode was recorded before the Covid-19 lockdown in Brussels and the global anti-racist movement that has emerged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

My name is Eoghan Walsh, and this is the Brussels Beer City Podcast. Each week, a fascinating Brussels resident invites me, your host, to their favourite Brussels bar. Where, over a drink or two, we talk about the importance of the bar to them, and their relationship to Brussels - what they love, what they hate, and why they couldn’t live anywhere else. My guest on today’s episode is Reine Nkiambote, press spokesperson for Brussels Secretary of State for Urbanism and Heritage and co-host of the Yaya Talks podcast. On a cold, wet spring day, over a drink and shrimp sandwich, we talked about how a sandwich shop transforms into an afro-beat enclave, why she skipped town from Antwerp and landed in Brussels, and why she started her own podcast to give voices to under-represented women in the Belgian media. Quick note for context, this episode was recorded before the Covid-19 lockdown in Brussels and the global anti-racist movement that has emerged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

My name is Eoghan Walsh, and this is the Brussels Beer City Podcast. Each week, a fascinating Brussels resident invites me, your host, to their favourite Brussels bar. Where, over a drink or two, we talk about the importance of the bar to them, and their relationship to Brussels - what they love, what they hate, and why they couldn’t live anywhere else. My guest on today’s episode is brewer Dimitri Van Roy of Brussels Beer Project. Dimitri is a familiar face in the Belgian beer community, thanks to his role as self-described “Geek-in-chief and ubiquitous presence at Brussels Beer Project’s central Brussels brewery and taproom. Over a couple of beers - including some of his own work - at his Schaarbeek local, Dimitri and I talk about his formative beer drinking experience, how he chose Brussels over the US, and where the Brussels beer scene is at in 2020. Quick note for context, this episode was recorded before the Covid-19 lockdown in Brussels and the global anti-racist movement that has emerged in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

Each week, a fascinating Brussels resident invites me, your host, to their favourite Brussels bar. Where, over a drink or two, we talk about the importance of the bar to them, and their relationship to Brussels - what they love, what they hate, and why they couldn’t live anywhere else.And who am I? I’m an award-winning beer and travel writer, a Brussels resident of 10 years, and founder of Brussels Beer City, the blog all about Brussels and its beer culture.My guests on the Brussels Beer City Podcast are people not only from the world of food and drink, but also activists, writers, comedians, politicians entrepreneurs - anglophone, francophone, Dutch-speaking and more besides - a true reflection of what makes Brussels such a vibrant and exciting place to live in 2020.Which need celebrating now more than ever.You can find out more about the podcast at beercity.brussels/podcast, or by contacting me at eoghan@beercity.brussels.So subscribe to the Brussels Beer City podcast now in your podcast app and all major podcast platforms, so you don’t miss episode 1 launching on July 1.