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.
Catherine Minne’s childhood bedroom was filled with books. She loved the “Bibliothèque rose” series from Hachette: Enyd Blyton’s: Oui-Oui (Noddy); Le Club des Cinq (The Famous Five); and George Chaulet’s Fantômette series about a superhero.
She worked in a bookshop in her home city of Brussels, Librairie Candide on Place Georges Brugmann in Ixelles, describing it as paradise for book lovers: it was open 7 days a week and you could pick a book and then devour it in the bakery next store, while devouring a pastry at the same time. There was a park nearby in case you wanted a different reading environment, or a place to digest the stories on a stroll.
When she was a teenager, her dream was to own her own bookshop. But Catherine’s dream was put on hold when a different passion emerged in her thirties.
Catherine met Philippe Minne and the pair bonded over beer and wine and experiences in cosy cafés and quirky pubs. The couple married and moved to the Ardennes, homebrewing obsessively and attending beer festivals to talk beer with like minded people. “We really felt like we belonged with this movement and with the people,” says Catherine. “It was a nice feeling to be there and involved in the up and coming craft beer world.”
Catherine says that moving to the Ardennes from Brussels in the 1990s was one of the best things she could have done. She loved being completely surrounded by nature and she had a larger space to grow her book collection. She threw herself into her garden, and the couple started a family. Then, came a business.
In 2008, Catherine and Philippe launched Brasserie de Bastogne, changing the name in 2018 to Brasserie Minne when they moved location to Baillonville and upscaled the brewing facility. Philippe manages production and Catherine focuses her efforts on marketing. She talks to consumers and leads work on creating their beer labels. Each label has a story relating to the animals that share the Ardennes with them, and they’re often stacked together in a particular order beside each other, as if catalogued in a library.
“If you told me when I was younger that I would work for a beer company, I would have laughed,” says Catherine. “Books were my life and I had no interest. Now, I couldn’t wish for anything more.”
Books never left Catherine’s life. At the minute, they’re scattered in rooms all over her house, but she’s creating what she describes as an “English-style library” in her home, with two oversized club chairs and an open fire. And the dream of her own bookshop is closer than ever before. Work has begun to transform the top floor of the brewery into her own bookstore, a project that will keep her busy for the coming years. First, she’ll add all their beer books. After that, there’ll be a children’s section for Noddy, The Famous Five, and the superhero Fantômette.
If you told me when I was younger that I would work for a beer company, I would have laughed. Books were my life and I had no interest. Now, I couldn’t wish for anything more.
Catherine Minne
