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Photos by Cliff Lucas<\/a>
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<\/h5>\nThis editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS<\/strong>\u00a0as\u00a0part of the \u201cCommon Place\u201d series of podcasts.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nT<\/span>oday I\u2019m talking to Edward Vandermeersch, the owner-brewer of Rolling Hills in Oudenaarde.<\/p>\nThe brewery is located in the rolling hills of the Flemish Ardennes, on the outskirts of the city of Oudenaarde. As a nod to the brewery\u2019s provenance, the beers Vandermeersch brews here are branded with illustrations of the indigenous animals of the Flemish Ardennes: the naughty badger; the triple chase hare; the hill billy toad; the wildebeest; and Filip the hedgehog.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m most interested in talking about his Oud Bruin, the base beer for which started out as an interpretation of an historical beer from an iconic Oudenaarde brewery, Petre Devos.<\/p>\n
Vandermeersch is a physically fit, bald, medium-build, thirty-nine year-old with a tidy ginger beard, intense curiosity, and chaotic energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He shows me around his hardware: eight 20 HL CCTs; two 50 HL flat bottom fermenters; two souring tanks and one blending tank, each of 110HL; and around 60 French oak barrels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For years, Edward Vandermeersch didn\u2019t touch the things that were numbing him. On green energy projects in France as a biomass engineer, he wasn\u2019t permitted to climb rigs or mount equipment, and it killed him inside. When his father died in 2012, he didn\u2019t touch that either, pushing down inside himself any emotion he might feel about grieving the death of a father with whom he had a complicated relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, he\u2019s the owner of his own brewery in the town in which he grew up. In the process of building the brewery, he learned to let it all in, and to feel things with his hands and his heart again, even if they\u2019re difficult or painful.\u00a0Some things deaden you.\u00a0But some things can bring you back to life.<\/p>\n
Listen in whenever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n![\"Edward](\"https:\/\/www.belgiansmaak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WEB-clifflucasphoto-20260813-051.jpg\"\/)
![\"Edward](\"https:\/\/www.belgiansmaak.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/WEB-clifflucasphoto-20260813-051.jpg\")
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T<\/span>oday I\u2019m talking to Edward Vandermeersch, the owner-brewer of Rolling Hills in Oudenaarde.<\/p>\n The brewery is located in the rolling hills of the Flemish Ardennes, on the outskirts of the city of Oudenaarde. As a nod to the brewery\u2019s provenance, the beers Vandermeersch brews here are branded with illustrations of the indigenous animals of the Flemish Ardennes: the naughty badger; the triple chase hare; the hill billy toad; the wildebeest; and Filip the hedgehog.<\/p>\n I\u2019m most interested in talking about his Oud Bruin, the base beer for which started out as an interpretation of an historical beer from an iconic Oudenaarde brewery, Petre Devos.<\/p>\n Vandermeersch is a physically fit, bald, medium-build, thirty-nine year-old with a tidy ginger beard, intense curiosity, and chaotic energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n He shows me around his hardware: eight 20 HL CCTs; two 50 HL flat bottom fermenters; two souring tanks and one blending tank, each of 110HL; and around 60 French oak barrels.\u00a0<\/p>\n For years, Edward Vandermeersch didn\u2019t touch the things that were numbing him. On green energy projects in France as a biomass engineer, he wasn\u2019t permitted to climb rigs or mount equipment, and it killed him inside. When his father died in 2012, he didn\u2019t touch that either, pushing down inside himself any emotion he might feel about grieving the death of a father with whom he had a complicated relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, he\u2019s the owner of his own brewery in the town in which he grew up. In the process of building the brewery, he learned to let it all in, and to feel things with his hands and his heart again, even if they\u2019re difficult or painful.\u00a0Some things deaden you.\u00a0But some things can bring you back to life.<\/p>\n Listen in whenever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n * <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n