Although brewery De Glazen Toren only officially started on November 11th, 2004, there is however a rather long previous history. In 1988 Jef Van den Steen and Dirk De Pauw met at the town hall of Erpe-Mere. Jef was an alderman there, Dirk the newly appointed town clerk. They soon discovered they had a common passion : BEER! Together the hobby brewers started experimenting in a small kettle of 50 litres, but they soon realized that more know-how was needed. And indeed, after a three-year training course at the Brewery School CTL in Gent (1991-1994) the quality of their beers improved in a spectacular way. They started dreaming aloud of a brewery of their own. Finally, the basis of the installation was found in Galmaarden where brewery Meesters had just closed its doors. It was decided to start the brewery at the Glazentorenweg in Erpe-Mere (hence the name of the brewery), where Jef had a new building constructed next to his house.