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 the early 1980s, when Johan “Wanne” Madalijns was attending Art School at St-Lukas in Schaerbeek to study architectural drawing, he would wander around Brussels, studying the buildings and discovering the city’s cafés. One afternoon, with a few friends, he tasted the complete beer list at café Chez Jean on the Rouppeplein. After that, he wanted to fully understand how beer flavour was created. He soon began collecting beer glasses, and before long, he had switched the rock band posters above his bed for beer lists from various pubs.
It was also around this time that Wanne met Lieve Suys. Lieve shared similar interests to Wanne: she loved both art and beer as well. Soon after meeting, they began dating, and to impress her, Wanne drew a picture of the two of them holding hands. He gave the drawing to Lieve as a gift. “By making art you can bring all kinds of expressions,” says Wanne. “It provokes reactions and causes communications.”
Wanne’s resume in beer is impressive. He is the Chairman of the Lambikstoempers, a large and well-regarded beer club whose name comes from the metal tool used by drinkers in the 1950s to mash sugar cubes into their lambic at a time when it would have been more acidic. He also writes for various beer magazines such as De Zytholoog and Bierpassie. In 2017, he was named an Honorary Knight of the Knighthood of the Brewer’s Mash Staff by the Belgian Brewers Federation.
In 2018, Lieve and Wanne celebrated 33 years together and 25 years of marriage. They brewed a beer to mark the occasion, an artisanal blonde beer of 7.1% ABV with notes of cardamom, juniper berry, paradise seed, and sweet orange. It was an original recipe conceived by Lieve, and the couple brewed the beer together at Brouwerij 4 Pajot in Vlezenbeek.
The label of the beer featured the illustration that Wanne had drawn for Lieve when they started dating 33 years previously.
They named the beer ‘t Begin: “The Beginning”.
“Thanks to my steps in the beer world, I have been able to experience many beautiful moments,” says Wanne. “I can express myself in a creative way by writing articles for magazines. I can enjoy culinary delights, attend great events, and taste fantastic beers. But the most important thing is that I get to share my passions for art, life, and beer with my wife and family.”
But the most important thing is that I get to share my passions for art, life, and beer with my wife and family.
Johan “Wanne” Madalijns
