Hasseltse Jeneverfeesten
A two-day folk-culinary festival celebrating Hasselt's jenever heritage with tastings and street festivities.
Position jenever tastings and heritage experiences as a premium cultural tourism draw for European spirit enthusiasts and food-focused travelers.
- Hasselt's jenever legacy: a 500-year tradition in two days
- Tasting guide: how to experience authentic Belgian jenever like a local
- Street festival vibes: where food, spirits, and community collide
The festival attracted 140.000 jenever enthusiasts in 2025 . The Hasseltse Jeneverfeesten is an annual spirits festival that takes place in October in Hasselt, Belgium, with a two-day event dedicated to jenever, a gin-like spirit produced in the region . Jenevers, music and animation remain the annual success formula of the Jeneverfeesten . The festival transforms Hasselt's city center with street performances, traditional competitions, tastings, and exhibitions centered on the region's rich jenever-distilling heritage.
- The 'Borrel Man', a fountain in the middle of the city, changes water into jenever (gin) on Saturday
- A competition for the traditional waiter on Sunday
- Saturday features presentation of the new jenever ambassador with music and ambiance
- Sunday transforms the Jenever Museum's inner courtyard into a stage for acrobatics, music and surprise performances
- More than 150 vendors fill Dusartplein Saturday morning for the Jenever Brocante Market with old advertisements, enamel signs and antiques
- Visitors can watch the master distiller at work during fine distillation or take a guided tour explaining the story behind the spirit
- Jenever walk or jenever train rides
- music in the streets and great atmosphere
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