On Monday 19th of November 2018 our 888 Tripel Eight beer won the prestigious bronze medal at the Brussels Beer Challenge!

The number 8 and the color yellow in the Chinese culture.
In the Chinese culture certain numbers stand for happiness, depending on the positive or negative meaning of the Chinese word that sounds alike.
The number 8 is a lucky number for the Chinese people – 8 is pronounced “ba” and sounds very much like the word that is used for prosperity and wealth “fa”.
8 looks like the symbol for eternity ∞ and resembles a knot, which symbolizes a successful union.

888 is a combination of digits that brings the most fortune in the Chinese numerology.
888 is considered a symbol of wealth and prosperity during 1000 years!

The color yellow is a lucky color in the Chinese culture.
Yellow reflects the earth and is considered the most beautiful and prestigious color of all. Yellow is the origin of “Yin and Yang” – the center of the universe.

A beer named “888 Tripel Eight” … the story behind it…

Patrick Van Gompel and François Huysmans were discussing the creation of a new beer. A fresh Triple maybe? Easy drinking and a good match with the delicacy of Asian food. Expanding the market towards China or Asia… looks like a very good idea!  Patrick was thinking of choosing a number to name the new beer… 10 for instance. This suggestion made François think of the number eight. Why 8? Because some of his Chinese good friends told him that 8 is a lucky number. When François went for a game of golf with his friends, they congratulated him with so much luck. François did not have a clue why. They explained that he had “double 8” in his new car license plate.

Shortly after,  Patrick was having a beer in the center of Turnhout in Belgium with his dear friend Karel Sas, daydreaming about the new beer, and they discussed the number eight and China. So they looked up what was mentioned about three times 8, would it mean even more happiness?
A Tripel 8, a Triple Eight,  the Tripel 888 was born.

Who met who?

More than 10 years ago, Patrick Van Gompel reported on the “Best sommelier of Belgium” competition in Brussels for VTM-Nieuws. This is how he met François Huysmans, sommelier and co-organizer of the contest.

Patrick Van Gompel got himself “a good source” within the world of wines. François and his wife Britt Fieremans are the owners of a renowned wine shop in Kontich: Wine World. One thing led to another and they became close friends.

When François Huysmans created the independent culinary website www.foodtaster.be – with reviews of the better restaurants – Patrick joined him to write articles for this website.

One day François called him with the message: “I want to introduce a beer on the market”. Patrick participated and together with Britt Fieremans and Marc Knops they launched the triple beer François Grand Cru.

And now there is the Tripel 888 made in the brewery Anders in Halen/Belgium.

Conti7

One of many customers at Wine World in Kontich is Peter Larose, a businessman who works for the Antwerp shipping company Conti7.

As soon as François told him enthusiastically about the 888 Tripel Eight beer plans, Peter Larose proposed a cooperation: Conti7 being already active in Asia, why not add beer?

François Huysmans, Britt Fieremans, Patrick Van Gompel en Conti7 joined forces and started the company Belgian Beer Experts together.