Poperinge Bierfestival 2025

It was nice to be invited to join a group of CAMRA friends on their annual trip to Poperinge for the beer festival on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 October 2025.

The 28th edition of Poperinge Bierfestival was held in Zaal Maeke-Blyde, a concrete barn-like building with a car park in front.

It's located north of the town centre but only a short walk away.

Poperinge itself is near the French border and just over an hour's drive from Le Shuttle terminus near the Channel tunnel entrance just west of Calais. 

Poperinge has a railway station with an hourly train service to Antwerp via Ghent stopping in Ypres and Kortrijk. (Ghent is served by frequent trains from Brussels. Kortrijk is served by hourly trains from Lille.)

On arrival at Zaal Maeke-Blyde, there is a self service cloakroom area before reaching the ticket desk. With free admission, it is only necessary to purchase a 15cl tasting glass (€5) and tokens (€2 each) before entering the hall which has no windows and lighting with colour effects making it difficult to take photos and see the true colour of beer in a glass. Entrance to the good quality toilets involves a payment of €1 fee which earns an ink stamp on your hand to qualify for further use on the same day.

A useful four page programme lists all the beers and the location of the 25 individual brewery stands located at the four edges of the hall.

My first beer on Saturday afternoon was one that had been recommended to us on a preceding visit to GAST. Brouwmens Soesol is the first beer brewed by three friends - Pepijn, Jordi and Michiel - who met in Poperinge and discovered brewing during the coronavirus period. It's a pleasant 6.5% ABV Blond beer.

The official welcome and opening of the festival, organised by Bierclub Poperinge, took place in mid afternoon with toasts from the stage. This would be the only break from the continuous amplified music from the stage where Gregoir was on permanent duty as DJ.

The hall could easily seat over a hundred people at round tables and there were people of all ages from Belgium and beyond. Cheese, ham or crab baguettes could be purchased for 2 tokens (= €4) from a counter near the entrance.

Lupulus Fructus & St Bernardus Prior 8

Many of the stands around the hall were for small local breweries like Brouwmens but there were a few larger breweries including Leroy Breweries with Hommelbier, Brouwerij St Bernardus from Watou and Lupulus. 

Terrest Golden Tripel & De Plukker Rookop served by Valerie Van der Bauwhede

Valerie Van der Bauwhede brews Terrest Brewery and De Plukker beers at Terrest Farm outside Houlthurst. In the Keikoppenbier section of his book Hidden Beers of Belgium, Breandan Kearney writes 'In the summer of 2023, Valerie Van der Bauwhede started interning on [Joris] Cambie's [De Plukker organic] hop farm as part of an 'introduction to agriculture' class.' This weekend, Valerie was serving beers and answering questions about them at Stand 25, near the entrance to Poperinge Bierfestival.

Having enjoyed Tripel Plukker at Cafe De Snoek on Friday, Tim tried three more beers brewed at Terrest Brewery during the festival including De Plukker All Inclusive, an 8% ABV Blond featuring eight hops: Cascade; Fuggle; Centennial; Challenger; Goldings; Phoenix; Pilgrim and WGV.

At Stand 16, Brouwerij St Bernardus shared with Brouwerij Kazematten. After reading a Belgian Smaak post by Breandan Kearney about Kazematten and it's unusual location behind the ramparts of Ieper (Ypres), Tim added Wipers Times Tripel to his Untappd Belgian wish list. On Sunday evening, he was finally able to enjoy drinking it!

At Stand 1, near the entrance, two tokens (= €4) were needed for a glass of Brouwerij Werbrouck Tripel Blond with added Poperingse Patron Picon (17% ABV). This was a memorable way to enjoy a final Sunday drink at the festival. Located in Roesbrugge, near the French border, the family brewery was founded in 2018 and brews with Poperinge hops.

After a few beers, it was easier to accept the coloured lights and constant pop music and get used to a couple of tunes that were played regularly for DJ Gregoir to get a response from the drinkers - The Poperinge Song (Poperinge, Poperinge chorus) and Sweet Caroline (video above)! 

Before closing time on Saturday there was even a conga line circling around those still seated that can be viewed above.

Sunday night was less busy but our group again stayed on until after the closing speech and the lights were turned up.

Thanks to the festival organisers, breweries, friends in our group especially Terry for driving and Mark for accommodation etc. Thanks also to the kind people at the festival who gave us spare tokens and shared tipples with us! See you in Poperinge in October 2026?!