Brouwerij Haacht Alcohol-Free Beers

Brouwerij Haacht is a family-controlled Belgian brewery, founded in 1898, behind Primus and Super 8, and its Super 8 Flandrien 0.0 won gold at the World Alcohol-Free Awards 2026. In 2026 the trade press reported that it was for sale; Haacht says it’s exploring all its strategic options, and no deal had been announced by 31 October 2026.

Who are Haacht?

A dairy, the Melkerij van Haecht, worked the site before the brewery, Haacht says, and on 14 June 1898 Eugène De Ro, an engineer specialising in brewing, brewed his first top-fermented beer there. Bottom-fermented beer followed from 1902. “The ‘beer tram’ literally ran across the brewery’s grounds and transported the barrels to Schaarbeek”, it says; its first bottling plant came in 1950.

Alfred van der Kelen, De Ro’s son-in-law, took over the management in 1951, and his son Fréderic later led it; Boudewijn van der Kelen succeeded his father as chief executive in 2020, Inside.beer reported. The chief executive now is Nils van Dam, from outside the family, RetailDetail reported. The family’s holding company, Finabra, owns 81.88% of the listed parent, Co.Br.Ha., a January 2026 notice shows. Haacht calls itself the largest independent brewery in Belgium, and the fifth-largest brewer in the country. While the family controls it, we list it as independent.

Is Haacht being sold?

In January 2026 Co.Br.Ha. said in its Horizon 2030 plan that all strategic options for a sustainably profitable future are being evaluated. In June RetailDetail, citing the newspaper De Tijd, reported that potential buyers had been sent a sales dossier. In July RetailDetail reported that Heineken and Duvel Moortgat were in the running and that more than five parties were still bidding after a first round.

Haacht told Just Drinks in July that the brewery “was not being sold” but was “exploring the strategic options at the moment”; Heineken said it doesn’t comment on rumours, and Duvel Moortgat declined to comment. Co.Br.Ha. has hired PwC to assess “all strategic avenues”, Just Drinks reported. Inside.beer reported that no final agreement had been reached, and we found no later report of one: no deal had been announced by 31 October 2026. If the brewery is sold to a larger group, we’ll update this page.

What Haacht brews

Its plan names five brands: Primus, Coq Hardi, Tongerlo, Super 8 and Flandrien. Primus, “Our authentic Belgian lager”, is named after Jan Primus, Duke of Brabant, and comes at 5.2%, 2.6% and 0.4%, Haacht says. Super 8 runs to a Pils, Blanche, IPA, Export, Rouge and Rouge 0.0, with a Peach and a Cherry in its “UK range”; Tongerlo is its line of bottle-conditioned abbey beers; and Flandrien is a golden blond, 6.4%, with “Hops, coriander, and a hint of oak and vanilla”. It also makes Mystic Kriek, and owns Brasserie du Coq Hardi in France and Brouwerij Haacht Nederland. Its export markets are the UK, Italy and Spain, it says.

How big is Haacht?

Its beer business brewed 700,000 hectolitres in 2019, the latest published figure, but has since declined, Brauwelt reported, and the group has about 270 hospitality properties in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, Brauwelt and Inside.beer reported. Revenue fell 2.7% to €109m in 2025, Just Drinks reported, with a net loss of €11.4m, according to Belga. Haacht cut 49 jobs in 2025 and nine more in May 2026, Made in reported. In the first half of 2026 its recurring EBITDA rose 45%, it says, and its focus brands grew in volume by 5.8%.

Haacht’s alcohol-free beers

“Our innovation efforts are focused primarily on non-alcoholic beer”, Haacht says, and its 2030 plan calls innovation and growth of the alcohol-free range essential to growth. Its September 2026 drinks list files two beers as alcohol-free: Super 8 Flandrien 0.0 and Super 8 Rouge 0.0. Primus 0.4 is filed as low-alcohol.

Super 8 Flandrien 0.0 is the 0.0% version of the golden blond, in 33cl bottles, with the same subtle touch of vanilla and a balanced bitterness, Haacht says. At the World Alcohol-Free Awards 2026 it won gold and the Best Beer and Best Ethical Drink trophies, confirmed on the awards’ results page; the judges, as Haacht quotes them, found a rich, copper-coloured beer with a malty nose and hints of citrus and bubblegum. Super 8 Rouge 0.0 won gold at the 2025 awards, also confirmed there; it isn’t in our directory.

Primus 0.4 is brewed in the same tradition and with the same flavourful hop as its classic pils, Haacht says, in 25cl bottles. Haacht doesn’t say how it makes its alcohol-free beers, we couldn’t find when it launched them, and nobody publishes per-100ml calories for Flandrien 0.0 or Primus 0.4 that we could find. We found no awards for Primus 0.4.

How Haacht’s beers compare

Alcohol-free blonds and lagers from Belgian breweries in our directory. Calories as published; checked 31 October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

The Haacht beers in our directory

Checked October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy Haacht’s beers

On 29 October 2026 The Alcohol Free Co had Primus 0.4 at £14.76 for six and single bottles of Flandrien 0.0 at £3.65, and Dry Drinker had Primus 0.4 at £14.76 for six; those are affiliate links. Dry Drinker’s Flandrien 0.0 was sold out. For more, see our guide to the best Belgian alcohol-free beer.

Facts checked against Haacht’s own websites and Co.Br.Ha.’s statements, the World Alcohol-Free Awards, RetailDetail, Inside.beer, Brauwelt, Just Drinks, Belga, Made in, The Alcohol Free Co and Dry Drinker, 31 October 2026.