Alken-Maes is a Belgian

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

created out of the 1988 merger of two small breweries, Maes located at Kontich-Waarloos and Cristal-Alken located at Alken. It was bought by

Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

in 2000, who were taken over by Carlsberg and Heineken in 2007.

History

Alken-Maes was created out of the 1988 merger of two small breweries, Maes located at Kontich-Waarloos and Cristal-Alken located at Alken. Both had specialized in pils (Maes was producing

Maes pils Maes pils is a Belgian pils brewed by Alken-Maes. The beer was first produced in 1930 for Antwerp's Universal Exposition and called Prima Maezenbier. After Jupiler and Stella Artois, it is the third best-selling pilsner in Belgium. In 2008, ...

and Alken Cristal pils) until Maes purchased the Union brewery (based in Jumet) in 1978, which produced

Grimbergen Grimbergen () is a municipality in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, 10 km north of the capital Brussels. It comprises the towns of Beigem, Grimbergen, Humbeek, and Strombeek-Bever. In 2017, it had a population of 37,030 and an area ...

beer among others. After the merger, the group continued to purchase other breweries to expand their offer to a larger panel of beers. In 1989, the new brewery purchased a 50% stake in De Keersmaeker brewery, which specialized in spontaneous fermentation beers such as Mort Subite. In 2000, it bought

Ciney Ciney (; wa, Cînè) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. As of 2018, Ciney had a total population of 16,439. The total area is 147.56 km² which gives a population density of 111 inhabitants per ...

and Brugs Witbier as well as the other 50% of De Keersmaeker. In the same year, the brewery was bought by British company

, which in turn was bought by the Carlsberg/Heineken consortium in 2007. In 2002, it took over the Louwaege brewery from Kortemark (producing Louwaeges Kriek and high fermentation Hapkin). Alken-Maes has now become the number two on the Belgian market. Its headquarters are in Waarloos.

Products

* Pils:

, Cristal and '' Kronenbourg 1664'' * Brown beers: Zulte, Judas, Brown Ciney and Special Ciney * Blond beers: Blond Ciney, Hapkin * Abbey beers: Affligem, Grimbergen (blond, Trippel, Optimo Bruno, Dubbel and Cuvée de l'Ermitage) *

Wheat beer Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German ''Weizenbier'' and Belgian ''witbier''; other types include Lambic (made with wild ...

: Brugs * Spontaneous fermentation (

lambic Lambic () is a type of beer brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium southwest of Brussels and in Brussels itself since the 13th century. Types of lambic beers include gueuze, kriek lambic and framboise. Lambic differs from most other be ...

) beers: Mort Subite (gueuze and fruit lambics, including cherry (kriek) and raspberry (framboise/frambozen)), Louwaeges Kriek *

Lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "stora ...

: Foster's * Beers with a low alcoholic content: Maes Nature and Tourtel (alcohol-free).

Mort Subite

Mort Subite is the brand name for a number of

beers brewed by the Belgian brewery Keersmaeker. The beers take their name from a café in Brussels, À La Mort Subite.Mort Subite
/ref> ''Mort subite'' means "sudden death" in French, but can also be used to refer to the final throw in a dice game. Underground trading once took place within À La Mort Subite - it was named after the speed at which one could lose one's money. It is explained that the name was derived from the bar's proximity to the law court. In effect, lawyers and clerks would play cards during their lunch break and when the bell rang to resume proceedings, the hand held was subject to sudden death rules to ascertain the winner. This derivation is also listed in the Rough Guide series of books.

References

External links

*
A la Mort Subite
{{lambic Breweries of Flanders Companies based in Antwerp Province Kontich