Small Belgian brewery conquers Brazil thanks to playing cards

Het Nest, a small brewery from Turnhout, will get its beers brewed in Brazil as well. It has struck a deal with Cervejaria Premium Paulista, which will brew and distribute the beers locally.

Export

SchuppenBoer, KoekeDam, HertenHeer and PokerFace will also be available as beers all across South America starting next month. The names are a reference to Cartamundi, the global card manufacturer equally based in Turnhout.

Het Nest will assist its Brazilian colleagues with the recipe and advice and in return, the brewer will get a fee for every bottle sold. The deal is a major step forward for the brewery, which currently brews only 4,000 hectoliters of beer and generates an 870,000 euro turnover. Fifty percent of its production is already exported to fifteen countries, including Japan, China, Russia and Spain. There is a practical reason for its export: “Foreign customers have to pay before shipment. Belgian customers only pay afterwards. Foreign shipments also eliminates the need to take back empty bottles”, CEO Bart Cuypers told De Tijd.

New brewery

Het Nest’s manufacturing capabilities doubled last year and the goal is to get to 9,000 hectoliters as fast as possible. The new brewery in Turnhout, built in 2015 for 2 million euro, should enable that growth.

The company launched fifteen years ago as a beer tasting club and decided to make its own beer in 2004. It professionalized in 2006, brewing its beer at an independent brewery, but built its own brewery in 2015.