Brussels. Yvan de Baets and Berhard Leboucq started a brewery together in 2006, renting brewing space from the De Ranke and Proef breweries. They started brewing in there own brewery space in 2010. The first brewery of Brussels (Cantillion) dates to 979. Theirs is the second. The brewery is named for the the river from which the city of Brussels was born more than a thousand years ago.

I met Yvan in 2010 while they were still building their brewery. He gave me a tour and we tasted some of the beers they were making - they were all delicious and quite innovative for Belgian beers. He also took me on a trip to some of his favorite (and out of the way!) beer bars in Brussels. And he also gave me a fantastic recommendation to visit Cantillion (see my previous post).

Unfortunately I did not get to meet with him on this trip but I did get up to his new tasting room Zennebar. A spacious interior and a nice outdoor seating area. Lots of great beers to choose from and a big crowd was there having a great time. Their flagship Zinnibir was my choice and it was just as I remembered it from 14 years before - a perfectly balanced pale ale with fruity and hoppy flavors that gives hints of apricots and orange marmalade. Prost Yvan!