After settling into the family farm in Werken, Emile and his wife Louise De Poorter soon encountered tensions—particularly with her mother-in-law—that led the young couple to seek a fresh start. They relocated to Ingelmuster, Louise’s birthplace, and in 1900, launched the Sint Jozef brewery. As a determined mother of five, Louise managed the brewery with remarkable skill, and when Emile neared 80, he entrusted the business to his son Paul. Together with his brother Ernest, Paul steered the brewery through the tumult of the First World War.

Building on Bacchus’s success, Luc ventured further into innovation. In 1957, he set out to create a specialty gueuze—a challenging endeavor, as the wild yeasts required for spontaneous fermentation originated in the distant Zenne valley. Ingeniously, Luc sourced lambic wort from Van Haelen Frères in Uccle, using traditional foeder techniques to gradually cultivate enough lambic to produce his own gueuze and kriek. In 1958, he officially launched the acclaimed St-Louis Gueuze and Kriek, captivating beer enthusiasts and laying the groundwork for Van Honsebrouck’s ascent as Belgium’s second-largest gueuze producer by 1978.

Today, Van Honsebrouck remains a proudly family-owned business, now in the hands of the 5th generation. The brewery continues to honor its rich Belgian heritage, blending time-honored traditions with innovative techniques to produce high-quality, flavorful beers that tell a story steeped in history, myth, and relentless passion.