Today's Stella Artois Tour

The Stella brewery on the edge of town, this photo is from 2010. 

When we lived here in 2009-2010 we always meant to visit the Stella Artois brewery, but it didn't happen. Today we finally got our wish. 

Read more after the jump...
It's not just because neon is in this season, but we had to wear these safety vests all around the grounds. I liked his little guy. He was telling me something but I have no idea what it was... Thumbs up!

1366 is the year that the first record of the Den Horen (the horn) brewery, later to become the Artois brewery in the 18th century. Stella comes from the Christmas recipe that was brewed one year - which was so clear, as clear as a star or (stella). 

Today it is called AB InBev. AB for Anheuser-Busch and InBev stands for International Beverages - the name that emerged when the Brazilian and Belgian companies joined forces in the last decade. They are now the world's largest brewery. 15 beers come from this plant, where they produce 1.5 million liters per day. (I think that's what I heard today, at least that is what I wrote down.)

This is the kitchen where all the magic happens. These vats are deeper than what you see in the photo. To give you a sense of scale, these two workers walked in my photo at just the right time. Do you see them?

This is a state of the art filtration machine. 

Below are cans of Jupiler, waiting to be sorted like good little soldiers.

After production comes the hard job... quality control.

Den Thuis = the home. 

It was a pretty swanky place.

The best glass of Stella I have ever had. 

Fresh, served at the right temperature and lekker!