Armand runs the one-man 3 Fonteinen brewery in Beersel just south of Brussels. The brouwerijen - breweries in the Zennedal - Zenne Valley produce remarkable beers called lambiek, geuze, faro and kriek, which are brewed in such a special way that they enjoy EU protection as a speciality guaranteed label. The basic beer, lambiek, is brewed in open-top vats to allow local bacteria and spiders to spontaneously ferment the brew. In fact, without the bugs local to the valley, you can't brew lambiek.

Armand had 55,000 litres of lambiekbier fermenting. He hadn't been in the storage area for some days, and when he checked the beer's progress, he found devastation: instead of 16°, the temperature had risen to 50° because the thermostat was broken. The heat caused 3,000 bottles to explode.

There then follows good news, then bad again, followed by some heartwarmingly good. Fortunately, 100,000 bottles remained intact. Unfortunately, the heat had so affected the contents that the beer could only be used to produce genever, a gin-like drink. But there was a problem getting the liquid to a distillery: het enige nadeel is dat we nu die 100.000 flesjes manueel moeten ontkurken en uitgieten - the only disadvantage is that we now have to manually uncork [each bottle has a mini Champagne-like cork] and empty 100,000 bottles.

News of the disaster soon got out, and bierkenners - beer connoisseurs and fellow brewers turned up to help empty the bottles. As Armand said: ik ben kapot van wat er gebeurd, maar die solidariteit is hartverwarmend - I am shattered by what happened, but the solidarity is heart warming. The contents of all those bottles is now at a distillery, and Armand may recoup some of his loss from sales of his unique eau de Geuze. In fact, with its distinct flavour, he may be on to a winner.

The news has reverberated round the beer world. Joe Stange, based in Brussels, describes the tragedy in his Thirsty Pilgrim blog and reveals that one silver lining for Armand is that his partner, Lydie, has finally accepted his proposal of marriage. Hearing about Armand's plight on the internet, beer buffs came from Germany and the Netherlands to help with the uncorking, as well as from all over Belgium.

So look out for Armand's beer - all has not been lost. His Oude Geuze is rated among the best in the world.