Heverlee at New Waverley micro-festival unveiled

Belgium and Scotland have a good few similarities – they're both comparatively small countries with chunkier next-door neighbours, they're both packed with lovely historical buildings, and they both love to party. Oh, and one other thing; they both love beer – Belgium's beer cellar runs from monk-brewed ales to spontaneously-fermented sours to deliciously crisp pilsners, and the national beer culture is all about perfecting the classics while trying new things. Scotland and Belgium's shared love of a good beer-fuelled party manifests itself this month in the form of Heverlee at New Waverley, a three-day long micro-festival of art, music, food and beer at the New Waverley Arches in Edinburgh.

'OK', we hear you say, and fair enough; we aren't exactly short of festivals these days, from urban all-dayers to week-long booze-ups in fields. Close your eyes, spin around five times and run forwards – chances are you'll end up tripping over a 'unique boutique festival combining street food and The Arts', taking down a food truck and synth player in the process. What makes this one a bit different is that it celebrates another similarity between the Belgians and Scots – a love for the madcap and unexpected. That is to say, this ain't your average beer or beer-adjacent festival; this is your average beer festival's cool but highly unpredictable younger cousin.

First up, the music. Fittingly for the nation that gave us both electro mash-up aces Soulwax/2manyDJs and hip-house pioneers Technotronic (Pump Up The Jam remains a banger to this day, and we won't hear otherwise), there's a whole host of interesting, avant-garde electronic DJs being lined up for the weekend by Edinburgh label Firecracker Recordings. Across the three-day fest there'll be DJ sets from Edinburgh deep house duo Linkwood, NTS Radio's Charlie Bones and LuckyMe's Eclair Fifi, as well as Firecracker label boss House of Traps amongst others.

Food-wise, The Pitt are running the show. The Pitt crew are no strangers to the Arches, with sister project Food + Flea going from strength to strength at the New Waverley site. However, for the Heverlee event they'll be moving away from their usual fare and serving up a range of Belgian culinary classics. These range from the expected – your moules frites, your waffles – to the highly intriguing, like the beery, beefy stew that is Carbonade Flamande. As for drinks, there'll be the chance to try out two limited edition new beers by Heverlee, created especially for the festival.  

On the art side of things, the Belgians' love for a bit of graffiti and street art will be celebrated with a series of new murals curated by Fraser Gray. There's also immersive video art from surrealist cinema collective KinoKlub, who are putting together a piece inspired by Belgian animation and cinema. There'll also be a pop-up cinema on the festival's final day, courtesy of Picturehouse Pop-Up.

Heverlee describe the three-day festival as celebrating "some of our favourite aspects of contemporary Belgian culture", and it promises to be nothing if not a varied weekend. It does have all the components of a good party though. Loads of beer, intriguing food, leftfield dance music, street art and surrealist cinema, all packed into some former railway arches? Count us in.