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B. United International Inc. >
Producers >
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Brasserie a Vapeur |
Publisher:
Belgian Smaak
Date Published:
08/17/2016
Description / Excerpt:
On 25 August 1990, 36 year old Anne-Marie Lemaire – or ‘Sittelle’ as she was known locally – was killed inside a small brewery in Pipaix in the south of Belgium. According to reports from the court which dealt with the incident, a huge burning cloud of black dust and steam was suddenly released from the coal furnace nozzles of a boiler inside Brasserie à Vapeur, causing serious burns of which she died later that day.
Sittelle’s husband, Jean Louis Dits, was brewing on the day of the accident. He poured water on his wife and called the emergency services to arrange a helicopter. “I never thought the steam generator could explode,” he said. “The technician who checked it each year always told us there was no danger.” He lost 15 kgs in the fortnight after the incident due to stress. One of his daughters would later leave the village, never to return.
BRASSERIE À VAPEUR
Jean Louis decided to continue brewing after that accident with the antique equipment: a slide valve Watt steam-powered engine which generates twelve-horse power. Brasserie à Vapeur is Belgium’s last steam driven brewery. “We have to continue,” says Jean Louis. “There are car accidents involving people all the time. And yet people still drive to the graveyard.”...
Credits:
Breandán Kearney
URL:
http://www.belgiansmaak.com/brasserie-a-vapeur/
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| Picture: The steam engine at Brasserie a Vapeur. |
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