Brouwerijen Alken-Maes

Location:          Waarloos, Belgium 

Website:          Alken-Maes

The Maes brewery was founded in 1880 when brick maker Egied Maes bought a brewery in Waarloos in 1880 and in the same year Arthur Boes founded a brewery in Limberg called Alken. In 1969 the British based brewery group Watney Mann bought the brewery but it was soon back into Belgian hands after a successful management buy-out in 1985. Maes expanded in 1978 with the purchase of the L'Union brewery in Jumet, well known for its production of Grimbergen Abbey beer.
In 1988 the Maes and Alken breweries merged and two years later in 2000 the Alken-Maes brewery passed into the hands of British based brewers Scottish and Newcastle. In 2002 they group purchased the Louwaege Brewery from Kortemark.