Discover Brussels' via its best artisan products : chocolate, beer and food innovation
Concept Chocolate
The tour start at Concept Chocolate, visit of the chocolate artisan workshop and discovery of the different tastes of beans according to their fermentation. Chocolate workshop.
What makes Maxime a perfect match for our fermentation story is his respect for origins and side-streams: Concept Chocolate is part of the Cacao-Trace programme, and he’s openly curious about elements like cocoa pod pulp—proof that flavour and sustainability can share the same starting point.
Bazaar Trottoir
Follow a guided walk in Tour with Bazaar Trottoir towards Be Here, a former liquor plant from Pernod Ricard turned into a sustainable food hub. Short walk around Tour and Taxi and story about how this area is a flagship for urban area revival.
Fermenthings
Lunch and discovery of Fermenthings, the fermentation hub in Brussels, tasting innovation drinks and products based on fermentation.
Yannick Schandené has been quietly shaping Brussels’ modern fermentation scene since 2017, when he opened a first fermented-food shop in Jette, years before fermentation became everyone’s favourite buzzword.
La Source Beer And Co.
The organization views the city as a living organism, emphasizing sustainability and circular ecosystems. This makes the partnership with Fermentastic a perfect match; by visiting pioneers like La Source or BE-HERE, they use fermentation as a lens to understand urban transformation, showing how collaboration and patience drive both biological processes and city growth.
Today, he runs Fermenthings at BE-HERE, where it’s part shop, part workshop, part playground for microbes. Yannick is also behind the Urban Fermentory/Lab (opened September 2020), exploring circular fermentation, like transforming spent brewery grains into shoyu and miso—and expanding into a larger space in 2024. That mix of craft, curiosity, and low-waste thinking is exactly why he’s one of our Brussels pioneers, and a key stop on the tour.
Visit of La Source Microbrewery and tasting of homemade beers and end of the programme, but you can head back to Tour and Taxis for a nice drink and evening !
Mathieu Huygens is part of the newer Brussels beer story: less nostalgia, more immediacy. In 2019, he opened La Source Beer Co at BE-HERE, built around one simple flex, beer served straight from the tanks. Five vats are fitted with taps, so what you drink is about as close to “just brewed” as Brussels gets.
What makes Mathieu a perfect fit for our tour is the mindset behind the freshness: La Source has leaned into a more low-impact, “full-circle” approach, right down to choices like packaging in cans to cut transport weight. It’s modern, technical, and unpretentious, exactly the kind of place where Brussels’ fermentation culture keeps evolving.
Fermentastic gallery
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What to expect
Meet the passionate artisans and makers behind Brussels' fermentation revival
Guided food tour
Join us for a 6 hour tour through Brussels' food hidden hotspots, guided by passionate experts who know every secret corner.
Workshops
Get hands-on with the science and craft of chocolate and fermentation. You’ll learn the fundamentals, and leave with practical techniques to start at home.
Meet the Makers
Connect with local producers and hear their stories about traditional and innovative fermentation techniques.
Fermentation Tasting
Sample a curated selection of fermented favourites—craft beers, artisanal chocolates, pickles, and more. Expect bold flavours, local stories, and a guided tasting.