Words and photos by Ashley Joanna
Edited by Breandán Kearney
Humans of Belgian Beer is a series of photographic portraits which celebrate a people and their culture.
In August 2019, Eric Krings embarked on the complete renovation of a house in the Belgian hamlet of Atzerath. Before work began, he walked between the one-hundred-year-old stone walls which framed a building now in a complete state of disrepair. Debris crunched beneath his shoes as he traversed the hallways to work out how he would proceed. It might be more sensible to demolish the house and to totally start anew rather than renovate. But there were too many memories here and too many visions for a future with his family.
During Eric’s childhood, his grandparents had lived in this house. He remembered being 11 years old, helping his Italian grandfather, Tranquillo, cutting and chopping trees in the nearby forest every weekend. Tranquillo had emigrated from Italy to Belgium during World War II because of opportunities for Italians to work in Belgian mines during a time of extreme poverty in Italy. In order to bring his Italian traditions to his new home in Belgium, Tranquillo planted “Pomodoro” (tomatoes) in a greenhouse he made from old windows in the house.
After their cutting and chopping trips in the forest, young Eric and his grandfather Tranquillo would return to the house at the end of the day for home-made spaghetti bolognese cooked by his “Nonna”, Maria. Eric (and his family and friends) claim that Nonna’s pasta sauce, cooked with Tranquillo’s fresh Pomodoro tomatoes from her garden, and made with beef from the local butcher, is the “best in the world”. Tranquillo and Nonna Maria passed away a few years ago, and the garden, tomatoes, and coveted bolognese recipe—together with the house—have now been passed down two generations to Eric and his wife, Hannah.
“We want to continue to keep the tomato tradition alive,” says Eric. “The garden was Tranquillo’s favourite part of the house. Every time we walk into the ivy covered greenhouse made of old stained windows, the fresh smell of tomatoes brings back memories of my childhood. Now my family and I get to continue these traditions in growing our own tomatoes in the same place Tranquillo’s hands grew his.”
Eric and Hannah have two young children, Hannes (4) and Matti (1.5). Eric wanted for them to have a home of their own to build new stories, without losing sight of their family heritage. When it comes to renovating houses in the German-speaking community of Belgium, there is an unwritten rule that your friends and family will help with the work, and when they do, the rule states that you must repay them for their hard work with a beer (or three) at the end of the day. It’s a custom of a different time, but in surviving across the south-west region in Belgium that borders Germany, it endows communities here with a strong sense of camaraderie.
For the two years it took to renovate the house, Eric kept crates of beer stacked high along the inside of the house, and lined the refrigerator there with as many of his friend’s favourite beers as he could. Regulars included the Tripel and Strong Pale Ale from Brauerei Nova Villa, a tiny local brewery 12 kilometres away in Neundorf which recently installed four new 7HL fermentation tanks; Bavik Super Pils from Brouwerij De Brabandere; Cristal—the pilsner of the Belgian province of Limburg—from Brouwerij Alken-Maes; and the Belgian Ales, Duvel and La Chouffe from the Duvel Moortgat group of breweries. Days were filled with work and sweat; nights with beer and laughter.
When the roof was finally complete last month after almost two years of hard labour, twelve of Eric’s family and friends sat with him on the rooftop, sun shining on their faces and a beer in their hands. The first new memory of many to come for Eric, Hannah, Hannes, and Matt at their new, but familiar, family home.
Now my family and I get to continue these traditions…
—Eric Krings
