The "Namur Capitale de la Bière" festival welcomed around 10,000 people from Friday evening through Sunday. This was the festival's tenth edition and the first since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Though organisers expected 12,000 attendees, the 10,000 beer-lovers reflected the attendance of the last festival in 2019.
This year, the entrance fee to the festival was raised from €2 to €3.50 to account for rising expenditure costs and to offer a broader range of services, like free and frequently-cleaned toilets, Belga News Agency reports.
"We had a lot of people during the day on Saturday and especially on Sunday, which used to be a rather quiet and family day," Sébastien Legrain of the Namur Events Association said. "The habits of our festival-goers seem to have changed a bit with the coronavirus."
What's on tap?
In total, 39 brewers from all over Belgium were present in Namur with no fewer than 230 special beers. New breweries such as Belgium Peak Beer (Waimes), Chez Bobbi (Ittre) and Gansbeek Brewing (Brussels) attended the festival. Scottish brewer BrewDog was also back after being featured in 2019.
"All the exhibitors were happy to be able to present their beers to a large audience again," Legrain said.
In addition to all the beer vendors, festival-goers could enjoy various food trucks, listen to live music and spend time under evening garland lights in a guinguette-like spirit.
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Overall, Legrain noted this year’s "Namur Capitale de la Bière" as a great success. This festival is one in a series of four that Namur puts on for beer connoisseurs. The next one, "Stout Sure Meuse," will take place on 11-12 November.
