When the doors of foodhall Mout in Venlo open in mid-May, the city will have its own brewery again for the first time since the Second World War. The owners of café De Klep will brew the beer in the former building of Museum van Bommel van Dam.
With this, Venlo will have a brewery that will produce beer on a large scale for the first time since La Belle Alliance. A bombing raid put an end to the existence of La Belle Alliance during the Second World War.
Local interest
According to co-owner Sjors Kroon of the foodhall, it is very important that local entrepreneurs participate. “Mout must be from the city. With Louis Klaassens from De Klep, we have such an entrepreneur. In addition to Klaassens, Wim Do will also set up shop in the hall, as one of the eight world kitchens,” he explains. But the presence of the brewery in particular makes Kroon positive. “It just had to go in. Fortunately, everyone was so positive about this.”
Also read: Foodhall in old museum building Venlo open early next year
Dream
“Two years ago I was approached with the question whether I wanted to settle here. I have always had the dream of starting my own brewery, albeit slightly different from what it will look like now. But I soon knew that I was going to do this,” Klaassens admits. “We brew 1500 liters of beer at a time. We can also put two brews in a tank and then we have 3000 liters of the same beer. We fill three of those large tanks above the bar.”
Opening
For the foodhall, May 19 is the big target date for the opening. The chance that the brewery will be operational that same day seems small in advance. “That is not feasible for us,” says Klaassens. “That has everything to do with the vicissitudes in the world. The brewing installation that we have ordered comes partly from China. Normally it would come here by train via the new Silk Road, via Russia and Ukraine. everything by boat. That will probably take a few weeks longer.”