After many months of anticipation, the pieces of the administrative puzzle fell into place, and Mazette could finally open its doors and beer taps. Mind you, having a brew kettle, a kitchen, a huge wood-fired oven, and a comfortable space for the customers, all in one open space, was never going to be simple. But since the fire department gave its final go-ahead a little over a month ago, we’re able to enjoy all the products this utterly loveable cooperative brewpub in the Marolles has to offer: freshly brewed beers, straight from the tank, homemade sourdough bread baked in the aforementioned oven, and seasonal food.
Apart from the mixed and matched furnishings of Mazette—very fitting in a place right next to the daily flea market of the Place du Jeu de Balle, and in line with their environmentally conscious attitude—one of the first things that stands out, is the large amount of taps. Once you study the menu, you might then notice the absence of any bottled or canned beers, or even any other bottled or canned drinks! That’s right: to minimise waste, all drinks are on draught, including water, wine, cider, and even lemonade!
Don’t despair though, there are still plenty of beers on draught. For starters, there are four of their own Mazette beers served straight from the tank—thus avoiding the step of kegging, bottling, or canning. This also means these beers are not available anywhere else, unlike at the brewpub of La Source, where they do can and keg their beers. So if you want to try the Mazette beer, you’ll have to come to the Marolles!
Speaking of La Source: one of their beers was on draught as a guest beer, as was one of La Mule, and one of No Science. As you can see, even the guest beers are sourced locally as well!
Brew-in-a-Bag?
If you’ve visited a couple of breweries, you’re probably familiar with the usual setup with different vessels, and the main difference between breweries is the size of those vessels. At Mazette you’ll struggle to find something similar because the Speidel Braumeister system used here is more akin to a big brew-in-a-bag system: instead of draining the wort off to the next step in the process, the ‘bag’ with the grist—in this case a huge metal ‘malt pipe’—is simply lifted out of the wort with a crane!
That 500 litre kettle is the actually only part of the brewery on the ground floor and visible to the general public, the rest of the system is in the basement. This includes the final destination before the beer ends up in your glass: four 500 litre serving tanks. However, there is room—and with the necessary foresight, all the piping already installed—for four more such tanks!
Bakery
The sourdough bread made on-site starts its journey the other way around: the mixing, kneading—by hand, in a beautiful wooden kneading trough—and proofing happens in the basement, while the baking itself happens on the ground floor, in the stunning Le Panyol wood-fired oven. Not surprisingly, bread features heavily on the menu: deliciously stuffed dikkebroodjes, to dip in pottekeis, in hummus, or in soup, or just by itself with some herbs baked onto it.
If you don’t feel like having bread, or just need something a bit more substantial, there are also some changing dishes on the menu, like recently shakshouka or risotto.
Cooperative
Mazette is actually a cooperative brewpub, uniting the locals from the Marolles neighbourhood, from around Brussels, and the employees, placing great importance on social and environmental issues. And if you look at the menu, the products, the production processes, or chat with France, Pierre, Yorick, or Boris, or anyone of the staff, this absolutely shines through.
Some people might still miss the Skieven Architek, which was in this location until it closed in 2013, but Mazette certainly is a more than worthy replacement.
tl;dr
Beers
- 4 Mazette beers on tap, straight from the tank
- 3 guest beers on tap, from Brussels breweries
Bites
- Dikkebroodjes: bread stuffed with all kinds of hearty filling
- Pottekeis or hummus to share, with bread of course
- Some other dishes, providing you with a proper meal
Vossenplein 50 Place du Jeu de Balle
1000 Brussel
+32 478 55 61 58
https://mazette.brussels
What have people been drinking here recently?
- Arnulf Woock is drinking a Zinzinule at Mazette
- Arnulf Woock is drinking a Milkway to Heaven at Mazette
- Arnulf Woock is drinking a Suur de Bruxelles at Mazette
- Arnulf Woock is drinking a Restons Zenne at Mazette
- Pieter T is drinking a Restons Zenne at Mazette
- Mark Kemper is drinking a Milkway to Heaven at Mazette
- Jarno Kleuskens is drinking a Suur de Bruxelles at Mazette
- Martin Schröder is drinking a Restons Zenne at Mazette
- Martin Schröder is drinking a Skieven Architek at Mazette
- Martin Schröder is drinking a Suur de Bruxelles at Mazette
Disclaimer: the author has a Zwanzeur share in the Mazette cooperative.