Why Create Whisky in Brussels

I get the question all the time, why create whisky in Brussels? Belgium is known for breweries and some of the best beer, so why whisky? It seems so out of place… contrary to the flow of things…

Well… that’s exactly why we became a Brussels distillery…

Why we decided to become a craft Brussels distillery

When we started this project we didn’t want to be just another craft brewery, or gods forbid another shitty contract brewery posing as a real brewery. We also needed something different that would truly set us apart in the Belgian craft scene… so we talked to some friends and were immediately convinced to make a craft distillery in Brussels side by side with the brewery. A quick search at the time found there was none of any merit in the city. So, we decided to go headfirst at it. The decision to make whisky, however, came a bit later.

A Passion for Belgian Whisky

Whisky has always been a passion of ours as consumers, we noticed there were no real good ones we could get in Belgium at the time. Still to this day it’s very rare to find decent Belgian whisky, even more so from small distilleries.

We saw an opportunity to change that… to produce authentic Brussels whisky, made locally and honestly in a real Brussels distillery.

Challenging the Belgian Spirits Industry

You see, the landscape is owned and controlled by large players here. Quasi monopolies, deceptive marketers, old families, and ultra mega corporations dominate the Belgian spirits market…. With a few exceptions, the spirits market was… to put it politely… not living up to its potential (this part I had to reword because of our comms team, come have a drink at the bar if you wanna hear the uncensored version).

Coming in as a small Belgian distillery you are immediately confronted with that reality… that and the endless rules and taxes, rules built by “experts” read “lobbyists from large companies in the sector”, rules that bog you down, taxes and fees that drain your capital and quickly shows you this industry is built by the big guys for the big guys event at the European level…if you have a lot of money you win, if you don’t you struggle.

Making history in Brussels

Well, lucky for us we love a struggle… so here we are… 3 years ago, we said fuck all that and made the first whisky in the history of Brussels, a feat that other distilleries in Brussels (or as I like to call them, bullshit artists, in the region), all failed at. (oh look, our comms team let this one slide)

We came at this project with the intention to be honest and real. To make our stuff locally by ourselves knowing it would be a harder, uphill battle. We figured people would appreciate that and looks like we were right. We are currently the largest craft distillery in the Brussels Capital Region, makers of the very first ever whisky ever produced in fucking HISTORY in Brussels, and we are damn proud of it. We love what we do and every mountain we see is just another step in the path for us as the only “brewstillery” in the city. So, if you’re looking for a Brussels distillery, come to Tipsy Tribe where we make history (along side some of the best craft beers and spirits).

distilleries, distillery, distillery near me, gin distillery, distilled alcohol, whiskey distillery near me, whisky, distilleries near me, distilled spirits, whiskey bars, whisky bar, making gin