I’ve made the trip to De Dolle no less than four times in the last six months. It started with the excellent beer, but it’s the friendly atmosphere that has lured me back. Brewmaster Kris Herteleer and his wife, Els de Mûelenaere, are always on hand, welcoming and chatting with patrons, whether they are there to buy one beer or several cases.

De Dolle is considered a “hobby” brewery. They only brew during the weekend. This might aid in the establishment’s relaxed ambience, but don’t let that fool you – they produce some serious beer.

I first sampled De Dolle’s brew a couple of years ago in the US and was smitten. I’m not alone: they export 50% of their product (about half of which goes to the US) and are well known among Belgian beer aficionados worldwide, despite the fact that they don’t spend a cent on advertising.

Earning its name

This brewery in West Flanders has a long history. From 1882, three generations of the Costenoble family brewed there. In 1980, Kris and his brother Jo decided to buy the (then defunct) brewery after winning an exclusive Brussels' beer competition. The two were home brewers and college students at the time, juggling their respective studies in architecture and medicine with brewing on the weekends.

For this reason, they became known as de dolle brouwers – the mad brewers. Jo Herteleer has since left the business to pursue medicine in the developing world, but Kris has kept the brewery going strong.

Kris Herteleer is a Renaissance man. He’s an architect, artist (you can see his paintings at the pub, and he’s behind De Dolle’s fanciful beer labels) and brewer, but he’s also something of a historian. He has great respect and interest in brewing traditions and, in 2000, his historical research on West Flemish breweries earned him the Golden Hammer award from ’t Hamerken, a Bruges non-profit association devoted to preserving beer history.

Few surviving West Flemish breweries

Kris tells me that in 1906, West Flanders had a whopping 586 breweries. Now there are only 21 active breweries, some of them very small. The advent of commercial brewing, with its expensive machinery and focus on profit over quality, has continually forced many smaller breweries out of business.

It’s small-batch brewing and the focus on quality beer that Kris is interested in preserving. He prides himself on using traditional equipment and methods. Unlike most of the larger, commercial brewing operations, De Dolle’s beer is not pasteurized or filtered and uses whole hops rather than hop pellets or extract.

De Dolle even runs their wort through a copper “cool ship” (an open, shallow vat) during the brewing process. This traditional way of cooling wort in the open air was once widely done but is now only practiced by a handful of artisan brewers. As reported last week, lambic brewers also use the cool ship; but at De Dolle, the wort spends a much shorter time in the open air before being pumped through another cooling system and inoculated with cultured yeast. This occurs well before wild yeast has a chance to take hold of the wort, as is the tradition with lambic beer.

Though Kris has great respect for tradition, he’s not old-fashioned. In fact, his penchant for experimentation sets him apart from other Belgian brewers. In addition to their regular line-up, De Dolle produces some innovative seasonal and specialty brews. And beer fans approve; their Cosmos Porter (an old, Flemish brown ale) won the consumers’ choice award at Zythos, Belgium’s biggest beer festival, in 2009, and their Exprmtl brew AD 2010 (a sour beer made with wine yeast) came in second this year.

Simple, optimistic and gentle

A fire at the brewery in early March did some serious damage to the pub area, but fortunately the brewing operation itself was spared. Despite the fire, De Dolle hasn’t missed a beat – weekly tours have continued and a comfortable tasting area was set up next door in the old brewer’s house. Beer bottling was delayed for a bit but has since resumed.

The brewery’s exterior is whimsically decorated, giving visitors a hint of what’s to come. Primary colours dominate, and De Dolle’s mascot – a bulbous, yellow cartoon character holding a brewers’ fork – greets you. This is the embodiment of the brewery – a playful combination of a yeast cell and a man. You’ll find it also on their Oerbier label, glasses and maybe even on the brewer’s jacket.

“It is very simple, optimistic and gentle,” says Kris. “It smiles at the result: the beer. But it doesn't get this for free – work and knowledge are held in its right hand, symbolised by the brewer’s fork.”

This hard work and positive attitude pay off. De Dolle is a favourite among tourists and locals alike. It’s a place where strangers easily strike up conversations with one another, something I’ve found to be a rarity in Flanders. Twice I’ve been lucky enough to get rides back to the train station with Flemish couples who seemed to find my broken Dutch endearing.

De Dolle is one of the only breweries in Flanders that offers weekly tours in English regardless if you are a group of two or 10. Your tour guide is typically Kris’ nonagenarian mother. You’ll hear some incredibly witty jokes (that she warned me not to share) and various anecdotes that back up her claim that beer is good for you. If she’s any indication, we should all be imbibing daily.

Visiting the mad brewers

De Dolle gives weekly tours on Sundays at 14.00 in English or French and 15.00 in Dutch. The cost is €3,50, which includes a beer. In addition, De Dolle arranges large group tours by appointment during the week with a minimum of 30 people.

Go there soon to sample the last of this year’s Easter beer, Boskeun, a dangerously drinkable, yet amazingly complex blond beer.

To get to De Dolle by public transport, take a left out of the Diksmuide train station and head down Bortierlaan. Take a left on Maria Doolaeghestraat (N35), which becomes Esenweg and will take you all the way to De Dolle (Esenweg becomes Roeselarestraat). If you walk, it’s about 40 minutes.

De Dolle Brouwerij
Roeselarestraat 12B, Esen 
www.dedollebrouwers.be