“Being born into a brewery is the best thing that can happen to you,” Albert De Brabandere, fifth generation owner of the Belgian brewery that bears his last name, says. He’s addressing the gathered press and industry folks before him.
He’s also just become a father for the second time—a son. “I just hope he’s interested in beer!”
Let’s also hope that he and his siblings have the same entrepreneurialism as their father. Under his stewardship, De Brabandere has carefully steered a tasteful rebrand, bringing the Petrus and Bavik beers back under the family umbrella, as they were when the brewery originally opened in 1894.
All the while, his family has overseen the continued modernization and expansion of their brewery. Not bad for someone who’s first job at the brewery was filling crates with empty bottles, at age 14.
—Matthew Curtis