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On 6 January 2015, Jef Janssens awoke on his family farm to the sound of rubble falling from the adjacent building. The fire brigade arrived soon after to put out a fire. The roof of the farmhouse brewery, the entire bottling line, the conditioning rooms and most of the stock were all burnt to the ground. For the Janssens family, it was a financial disaster.
The family are parents André and Mol, Jef’s brother Dries and their sister, Lisa. But there’s always a lot more people than that on the Hof ten Dormaal farm. It’s a kind of open house where the many visitors always receive a warm welcome and a glass of beer.
The immediate aftermath of the fire was a difficult time which Jef speaks here openly about, when the quality of their beers suffered because of the difficult working conditions and lack of money. Through hard work, the establishment of a new festival themed on innovation in beer and their contacts in the beer community, they managed to get themselves back on their feet and have just undergone a brewery expansion.
Jef, as lead brewer now, is not only obsessed with tanks. He’s obsessed with tanks, as in armoured fighting vehicles, especially their diverse engineering and their historical significance. He even has a tattoo of an armoured tank on his chest.
In our chat, we discuss the origin story of this farmhouse brewery, a 2 week visit of his father to Bute, Montana, and Jef’s thoughts on Hof ten Dormaal’s place in the Belgian beer world. We talk about the fire and the challenges the family faced in its aftermath, both financial and emotional. And we hear Jef’s personal feelings on the future for Belgian beer.
Sit back, listen, and enjoy Jef Jannsens of Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal.
Special thanks to Nic Crilly-Hargrave for the photography.
