Private company

Alken-Maes

Logo: alken-maes.be4

Belgian brewery

Alken-Maes is a Belgian brewery created out of the 1988 merger of two small breweries, Maes located at Kontich-Waarloos and Cristal-Alken located at Alken. It was bought by Scottish & Newcastle in 2000, who were taken over by Scottish & Newcastle#Acquisition by Heineken in 2007.2 It is part of Affligem Brewery.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Jun 4, 1921Founded1
  • Industrybrewing industry1
  • HeadquartersAlken1
  • Websitewww.alken-maes.be
  • Legal formPublic limited company (Belgium)1
  • LEI5493008DSBGESD0H4G193
  • StatusActive3
  • LEI statusIssued and current3
  • Registered addressMouterijpad 11-13 bus 2, 2800 Mechelen, Belgium3
  • Registered withFederal Public Service Economy (Ministry of Economy), 07169269013

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Brouwerij Alken Maes
Photo: Fbleus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons6

Alken-Maes is a Belgian brewery created out of the 1988 merger of two small breweries, Maes located at Kontich-Waarloos and Cristal-Alken located at Alken. It was bought by Scottish & Newcastle in 2000, who were taken over by Scottish & Newcastle#Acquisition by Heineken in 2007.2

Corporate structure

Alken-Maes sits at the top of its group. 1 entity, 1 country on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

  • Alken-Maes Mechelen, Belgium
    • Brewery Mort Subite Owned · Belgium
    • Grimbergen Owned

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Alken-Maes reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

  • Brewery Mort Subite
  • Grimbergen

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

Alken-Maes was created out of the 1988 merger of two small breweries, Maes located at Kontich-Waarloos and Cristal-Alken located at Alken. Both had specialized in pils (Maes was producing Maes pils and Alken Cristal pils) until Maes purchased the Union brewery (based in Jumet) in 1978, which produced Grimbergen beer among others.

After the merger, the group continued to purchase other breweries to expand their offer to a larger panel of beers. In 1989, the new brewery purchased a 50% stake in De Keersmaeker brewery, which specialized in spontaneous fermentation beers such as Mort Subite. In 2000, it bought Ciney and Brugs Witbier, as well as the other 50% of De Keersmaeker.

In the same year, the brewery was bought by British company Scottish & Newcastle, which in turn was bought by the Carlsberg/Heineken consortium in 2007. In 2002, it took over the Louwaege brewery from Kortemark (producing Louwaeges Kriek and high fermentation Hapkin). Alken-Maes has now become the number two on the Belgian market. Its headquarters are in Waarloos.

From Wikipedia’s article on Alken-Maes, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Products and brands

  • beer

Listed on Wikidata.1

Pils: Maes pils, Cristal, Kronenbourg 1664, Foster's, and Cara Pils (formerly)

Brown beers: Zulte, Judas, Brown Ciney and Special Ciney

Blond beers: Blond Ciney, Hapkin

Abbey beers: Affligem, Grimbergen (blond, Trippel, Optimo Bruno, Dubbel and Cuvée de l'Ermitage)

Read the full text

Wheat beer: Brugs

Spontaneous fermentation (lambic) beers: Mort Subite (gueuze and fruit lambics, including cherry (kriek) and raspberry (framboise/frambozen)), Louwaeges Kriek

Beers with a low alcoholic content: Maes Nature and Tourtel (alcohol-free).

Mort Subite

Mort Subite is the brand name for a number of lambic beers brewed by the Belgian brewery Keersmaeker. The beers take their name from a café in Brussels, À La Mort Subite. Mort subite means "sudden death" in French, but can also be used to refer to the final throw in a dice game. Underground trading once took place within À La Mort Subite – it was named after the speed at which one could lose one's money.

It is explained that the name was derived from the bar's proximity to the law court. In effect, lawyers and clerks would play cards during their lunch break and when the bell rang to resume proceedings, the hand held was subject to sudden death rules to ascertain the winner. This derivation is also listed in the Rough Guide series of books.

From Wikipedia’s article on Alken-Maes, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Also owns

  • Brewery Mort Subite
  • Grimbergen

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Jun 4, 1921Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
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  4. 4
    Company websiteAlken-Maes logo
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