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History

1842  

The café is part of a protected village landscape, which also includes St Ursula’s Church and Neufcour Castle. The inn is one of the oldest buildings in the village. The land registry records go back to 1842. As soon as you set foot inside, you feel as if you’ve been transported to the late 1940s or early 1950s. What immediately catches the eye are the rare Art Deco bar counter and the Westminster clock. In the past, the taproom was smaller because there used to be a space at the front that served as a bollenwinkel, a sweets shop. The different colour of the tiles in the current café floor makes this very clear.

1999  

For a while, it looked as though the people of Eizeringen would no longer be insured against a serious thirst. In 1999, Margriet, then 85 years old, announced that after 51 years behind the café bar she would be pulling her last pint at Christmas. After that, the curtain would fall for good on the only café on the village square in Eizeringen.
But that was without counting on Kurt and Yves Panneels. The two brothers were very keen to take over the café – if only for the name and the tradition.

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The restoration works 

The restoration took more than five years (2001–2005). Kurt and his father Maurice carried out a large part of the work themselves. They did everything possible to combine modern comfort with the authenticity of this beautiful piece of popular heritage. The typical old-time atmosphere was left untouched. Today the walls tell a substantial part of the region’s brewing history and bear witness to village life in Eizeringen in days gone by. The old gramophone sometimes allows visitors to drift off into a daydream. Before long, “In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst” had built up a solid reputation as an inn where you can enjoy traditional gueuze and kriek – a reputation that now extends far beyond the country’s borders.

From 'Greatest Café in Flanders' 
to 'Best Beer Destination in the World'


In 2009 the inn won the title of “Strafste Café van Vlaanderen” (roughly, “Flanders’ Most Remarkable Pub”). The competition was organised by the TV programme Vlaanderen Vakantieland and Tourism Flanders. From September 2010 onwards, “In de Verzekering tegen de Grote Dorst” also appeared in the list of the 50 best beer destinations in the world. In November 2014 the inn even reached the top three of this list. Between 2015 and the end of 2024 – when RateBeer was discontinued – the café headed the “Best Beers Bar in the World” ranking without interruption. From 2018 to 2020, the inn was even named “Best Beer Destination in the World.”