Two others are proposed for Shanghai and Singapore.

'We are actively searching for a location,' Marco Betancourt, the Hong Kong-based partner in the venture, said.

'The only problem is that, to house a brewery, we need premises of about 4,000 square feet and that can be prohibitively expensive to rent in prime areas like Wan Chai or Central so we will have to look further out from the centre.' Mr Betancourt said the micro-breweries had taken off in Australia, the United States and South Africa and were a potential gold mine.

'There is one in the Lufthansa Centre in Beijing, a joint venture between a German brewer and Chinese partners, and it is doing incredible business,' Mr Betancourt said.

According to some reports, the micro-brewery produced 200,000 litres of beer a year (or 1,700 glasses a day) to meet demand.

'Our idea is to have the same thing in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai,' Mr Betancourt said.

He said Belgian beer, besides Stella Artois, was almost unknown in Asia.

Belgians, the world's fifth biggest beer drinkers, were supplied with their national 'mother's milk' (as they affectionately call it) by no fewer than 150 breweries that produce about 500 varieties of beer - more than anywhere else in the world.

Belgians even cook with beer.

'Beer is brewed according to old traditions in Belgium, as it is in Germany,' Mr Betancourt said.

'Additives and colouring agents are banned. There is an edict dating back to the 17th century instructing brewers how to make beer.' Sterkens, the family firm behind the Hong Kong venture, have been brewing beer according to the same recipes since 1654, having salvaged them from the ruins of an abbey destroyed during the French Revolution.

One renowned beer expert, Michael Jackson, has described the Sterkens' brews as 'exquisite' and ranked one, in particular, Bokrijks' Kruikenbier, among the best in the world.

Sterkens' brews were being introduced through selected outlets, including several in Lan Kwai Fong, and in a promotion at Yaohan.

But for the Belgian beer-drinking experience, connoisseurs will have to wait for the opening of the Sterkens' micro-brewery.

Mr Betancourt said it would be a 'quality step forward' for beer lovers.

'It is sort of XO beer,' he said.

'Even the way it is served is special - in porcelain jugs at just the right temperature.' This experience would not come cheap.

Mr Betancourt expected half-litre jugs of the better known ales, St. Paul and St. Sebastiaan, as well as darker ales and even special brews made with cherries, banana or lemon, to be priced at around $70.

But with an alcohol volume of eight to nine per cent, Mr Betancourt said it was the 'same strength as wine, so you don't drink many jugs'.

He said: 'We are also aiming for a niche in the upper-class market - people who want to enjoy a quality product, discover something new and see their beer being brewed.'