Our Story
We are Louis and Bart, two Belgian beer and wellness enthusiasts who have been good friends for over 20 years. After a career in academia and finance, we took the plunge to follow our passion by offering an experience that is innovative and strongly embedded in the Belgian beer & hops culture and firmly rooted in the local community.
For that reason, we try to work as much as possible with local products. Whenever we can, we try to appeal to local talent. We fill our baths with a mixture of yeast, malt and hops. We source the yeast and malt from Brussels Beer Project, which is just walking distance from where we are. Our hops are grown by a hop farmer from Komen-Waasten. Our beer menu only contains Belgian beers and the food pairing we propose is completely Belgian. And yes, even the music you hear on the premises is exclusively from Belgian artists.
Our baths can offer an enormous benefit for its users. The concept of beer baths, and the benefits that brewer's yeast and hops have for the skin, have been known in some countries for a long time. Although Belgian folk wisdom has used dark beer for hair care for centuries, beer baths in Belgium are not really known. With Bath & Barley we hope to change that, by letting the traditional beer country of Belgium discover and embrace this custom. Hops are increasingly used in cosmetics and anti-aging products and we have fantastic hop farmers in Belgium with a lot of savoir-faire. Bath & Barley therefore seemed the logical next step.
For several decades, the phenomenon of craft brewing has ensured that non-traditional beer countries also market excellent beers. At Bath & Barley, we also want to propagate the Belgian beer brewing tradition and innovation. Styles such as the ‘Saison’, the ‘Gueuze’ or the ‘Oud Vlaams Bruin’ (Old Flemish brown), are styles that are eagerly recreated in other countries. Sometimes we have the impression that as Belgians we are not always aware of this rich culture in the glass right in front of our nose. We therefore hope to contribute to the revaluation of this culture.
Hopefully we can welcome you soon to help you discover this relaxing and tasty experience for yourself.
Cheers!
Louis & Bart
Founders Bath & Barley