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In a roundabout way , Hanssens is one of the oldest lambic blenders in Belgium. Before moving to their current site in 1896, lambic was brewed and blended at the family farm since 1871.<ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand]], 2010</ref> Hanssens, as we know it today, came into existence through a non-lambic brewery known as Het Hooghuys brewery. This brewery was initially owned by the Van Hemelrijk family and eventually became associated with the Hanssens name after Petrus Van Hemelrijk married Joanna Maria Hanssens in 1837. The oldest son of Petrus and Joanna, Jozef (1861-1890), continued the family brewing tradition until he fell ill in 1888. That same year, Jozef let his cousin Bartholomé Hanssens (who later became the mayor of Dworp from 1914-1927) take over the brewery operations, on the condition that he would return it back to the Van Hemelrijk family when Jozef’s young children were old enough to maintain the business. The brewery was signed over on a 9-year lease to Bartholomé<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>. [[File:HanssensArtisanaal-1.jpg|thumb|right|Old Hanssens crate]]

A family quarrel came about when Bartholomé did not want to return the popular brewery, and he was eventually fired, forcing him to find a new location for his brewery. Professionally, Bartholomé Hanssens was not a lambic brewer, or lambic blender originally. He brewed a popular brown table beer known as “Waalschen Bruynen” ''(Walloon Brown).''<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>. By all accounts , his new brewery, Sint-Antonius, broke with Dworp tradition by not producing or blending any lambic. However, during the First World War, Bartholomé’s brewery was stripped of all its copper equipment by the occupying German forces. The loss of all of his brewing equipment forced Bartholomé Hanssens to turn to purchasing and blending of lambic wort. This decision was not completely uninformed at the time, as Dworp was fast becoming the center of the lambic blending world.

Bartholomé’s second marriage resulted in four children (two daughters and two sons). One son, Jozef , died young leaving Theo Hanssens (1909 - ? ) as the male successor to the lambic blending business. Theo Hanssens began to learn the lambic blending craft at the age of 14 as his father started to become ill. Not only did he learn with his father, but he also learned with one of the most important lambic breweries in Dworp, [[Brouwerij Winderickx|Winderickx]]. Theo took over the business full time when his father passed away in 1928. In 1932, Theo married Rosa Vastiau, whose name makes up Hanssens barrel marking today: THV. With so many lambic breweries in the immediate area, Theo used wort from [[Brasserie Van Haelen|Van Haelen]] in Beersel (closed in 1957), [[Brasserie Van Haelen-Coche|Van Haelen-Coche]] in Uccle (closed in 1968), [[Brasserie La Fleur d'Or|La Fleur d’Or]] in Brussels (closed in 1969), [[Brouwerij Timmermans|Timmermans]] in Itterbeek , and [[Brouwerij Winderickx|Winderickx]] in Dworp/Tourneppe (closed in 1969). The numerous brewery closures after World War II lead to Hanssens using wort from [[Brouwerij Lindemans|Lindemans]] and [[Brouwerij Girardin|Girardin]] to create their lambics. By 1990 , the blend also contained lambic from [[Brouwerij Boon|Boon]]<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>. Today, these three breweries make up all of Hanssens 's gueuze blends. Theo Hanssens and Rosa Vastiau had one son, Jean, who would eventually learn the trade from his father and move into the business after completing his military service. [[File:HanssensBarrels.jpg|left|thumb|Barrels at Hanssens]]

After succeeding his father Theo in 1974,<ref name=HoralHanssens>HORAL - Hanssens, http://www.horal.be/leden/hanssens-dworp</ref> Jean Hanssens continued to produce only gueuze and kriek throughout the 1970’s and 80's as the lambic market continued to shrink. Van Den Steen quotes Jean Hanssens to Armand Debelder saying that “de guis is kapot” (''geuze is dead'')<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>. However, in 1993 , Hanssens along with [[Brouwerij_3_Fonteinen|3 Fonteinen]] and [[Brasserie Moriau | Moriau]] won the OBP trophy which can be seen on 3 Fonteinen labels from the time. Jean Hanssens continued to blend lambic until 1997, when it became apparent that it was time to retire. Jean and his wife Julienne De Wulf had two children, a son Theo and a daughter Sidy. Having not taught his children the art of blending, Jean saw no immediate successor for the name and began to work his way through the final stocks of lambic to be blended with the intention of discontinuing the Hanssens name.

Fortunately for the lambic community, Jean’s daughter Sidy, and her husband John took interest in continuing the family’s blending business. In 1998 , Hanssens Artisanaal bvba , as we recognize it today , was set up --passing the Hanssens name onto the fourth generation. As a very small blendery, neither Sidy nor John make a living from blending lambic as and they have regular day jobs. Today, Hanssens is a 100% traditional lambic blendery , producing only authentic, unsweetened, and unpasteurized lambics. As of now, there are no immediate successors to the Hanssens name and is still located in Dworp on the same family farm and in the same family farmhouse purchased many years earlier by Bartholomé <ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref>. Hanssens is also a member of [[HORAL|HORAL]].