AB InBev, headquartered in Belgium, has announced it will discontinue production of Belle-Vue Gueuze, citing declining consumer demand. A spokesperson confirmed the decision, first reported by De Tijd, stressing that the brewery in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw will continue to produce Belle-Vue Kriek, which remains popular.
Constant Vanden Stock, who later became chairman of football club RSC Anderlecht, introduced the sweetened version of gueuze after taking over his family’s brewery following World War II. Traditionally, gueuze was known for its sour profile and often consumed with sugar cubes. Vanden Stock’s innovation—a milder, sweetened beer bottled with a crown cap instead of a cork—became a commercial success, with peak annual production reaching 130,000 hectolitres in the 1960s to 1980s.
In 1991, Interbrew, later merged into AB InBev, acquired the Belle-Vue brand. However, shifting consumer preferences and the resurgence of more authentic, traditionally sour gueuze have eroded demand for the sweetened style. In response, AB InBev tried to relaunch a more traditional version in 2018, but sales failed to recover.
Beer journalist Geert Van Lierde, who first reported the news, explained that since the late 1990s the popularity of sweetened gueuze has been waning as countless new specialty beer styles entered the market. Meanwhile, the officially recognized traditional Oude Geuze steadily gained ground, pushing sweetened industrial versions into decline.
Beer expert Patrick Van der Spiegel added that “true gueuze lovers didn’t drink Belle-Vue Gueuze anyway,” pointing to the contradiction between the style’s sour character and the added sweetness. He also highlighted the success of local microbreweries, which intensified the trend away from industrial sweetened gueuze.
Despite Belle-Vue’s withdrawal, sweet gueuze is not disappearing entirely. West Flanders-based Vanhonsebrouck Brewery continues to produce its St. Louis Gueuze, which remains a niche product and serves as the base for the internationally popular St. Louis Kriek and St. Louis Pêche. According to brewer Xavier Vanhonsebrouck, AB InBev now even offers its horeca clients St. Louis as a replacement for Belle-Vue Gueuze. However, he noted that the company’s growth mainly comes from stronger fruit beers such as Kasteel Rouge and Kasteel Ruby, which boosted revenues by 12% in the first half of 2025 compared to the previous year.
AB InBev confirmed that no jobs will be lost as a result of discontinuing gueuze production.
