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.
When Dominiek Geers was a teenager, his father Hubert would take him to some of the pubs who bought beer from their family business. On one such visit to a bar in Brussels, the owner thanked Dominiek and his father for delivering the beers, and began playing a tune on his trumpet specifically for the pair. “We stayed there for a while, listening to the tune,” says Dominiek. “Something changed in me that day. I realised beer was more about people, connection, and life, and not just about the taste.”
Today, Dranken Geers is a specialty beer store with a wide-reaching distribution network. Dominiek runs the business with his wife Vera, and his two children Leen and Bert. Every day at noon, the Geers family stop their work and gather in the dining room to eat their plate of spaghetti. Lunch is always filled with beer talk. And it’s the Geers’ forum for ideas, disagreements, laughter, and family camaraderie.
In the 1800’s, a Geers brewery selling beers of top fermentation stood exactly where the current Dranken Geers shop and distribution centre is located today. The five generation family line of brewers came to an end when the Germans took most of the brewery’s equipment for copper during World War II and Dominiek’s grandfather was forced to cease operations. They could take away his grandfather’s brewery, but they could not take away his love for beer.
By the 1960s, the Geers sold beers from other breweries, and soon they had a small distribution network with trucks doing weekly deliveries. When Belgium hosted its “Year of Beer” in 1986, the interest in special beers increased dramatically. Amidst that change, Dominiek took the business over from his father. He’s seen the waves of demand for different types of beers in his time; at one time Oud Bruin; and then Spéciale Belge; and then Lager; more recently IPAs; and a recent re-engagement with Geuze. Through it all, the Geers have worked together, building more and more industry friendships along the way.
Dominiek and his family sell around 1,500 different types of beer today, both to individuals who visit the shop, and to cafés in different parts of Belgium. The younger generation—Leen Geers and Bert Geers—joined the family business several years ago, and each family member compliments the others with their different skillsets, all the while striving to build on the friendships with brewers and customers that have been passed on to them.
There was no internet or news outlet for brewery developments when Dominiek was building Dranken Geers with his father in the 1980s, so he had to jump in his van with Vera on Sundays and drive around to uncover special people and special beers. It’s an approach he still tries to maintain today. “Most of what is pleasant about this business is finding new brewers, visiting them, and building a friendship from our shared interest,” he says. “It makes you realise it is not about having a huge number of different beers to sell, but more about discovering new places and new friends.”
Most of what is pleasant about this business is finding new brewers, visiting them, and building a friendship from our shared interest. It makes you realise it is not about having a huge number of different beers to sell, but more about discovering new places and new friends.
Dominiek Geers
