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Photos by Cliff Lucas
This editorially independent podcast has been supported by VISITFLANDERS as part of the “Common Place” series of stories.
Ronald Mengerink is the owner and brewer at Brouwerij De Dochter van de Korenaar. The brewery is in Baarle, officially in the province of Antwerp, but located on the other side of the international border with the Netherlands.
Baarle is one of the most complex border areas in the world. It is divided into a patchwork of enclaves, with the borderline straddling farmland, roads, and even houses.
Of the roughly 10,000 inhabitants of Baarle, 3000 live in the Belgian territory, Baarle Hertog, and identify as Belgian, whereas 7000 live in the Dutch territory, Baarle Nassau, and identify as Dutch.
Much like Baarle, Mengerink defies categorisation. He is a Dutchman. Who makes Belgian beers. With French names. And American yeast. He is a maverick who does not fit any mould, making both hoppy session beers and high ABV barrel-aged experiments in a village that defies cartographic sense. He’s been a chef, a seller of olives, a seller of sausages, a seller of cheese, and a builder of swimming pools. Today, he’s a brewer who merges disparate influences into something distinctly his own.
Sit back, listen, and enjoy the story of Baarle, Ronald Mengerink, and De Dochter van de Korenaar.
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