Hubertus was born in 1968 in Tilburg. He came to Norway with his wife and two children in 2007. They came to Lesjaverk and bought a house in Lora. Hubertus worked at a number of places, including a furniture factory and the Bunnpris supermarket. He is a qualified saxophonist and for a time had a part-time job at a school as a music teacher and later also as a substitute teacher. After he has been out of work for a year, he decided to brew his own beer. He got this idea because of the high beer prices in Norway, and he planned to establish a brewery and brew beer mostly by himself.

He started in the kitchen of his house and had a brewery as a company from January 2013. The brewery was in a basement at Lesja. Hubertus’ beer was very popular and he soon found he was not producing enough to meet the demand.
He had to find bigger premises for his business and found a school called Skeievoll in Dovre that had been closed down. It was just what he needed. In December 2013, one of his beers, Julbukk, was voted the best beer in Norway.
The whole Huijs family likes it in Norway.

They are thinking of applying for Norwegian citizenship, especially because their children identify more as Norwegians than Dutch. Still, Hubertus misses relaxing in cafes, concerts and bike rides in the city. In the Netherlands, he was a music teacher, but also a musician and gave concerts with bands. Moving from a city to a village was a big change for him.

He has Norwegian friends, but it is not the same kind of friendship that he had with the Dutch friends he grew up with and knew for quite some time.
He also still works as a music teacher and a conductor for a band at the Culture School. It is important for Hubertus to have a regular income apart from the brewery and contact with music and the teaching of children. Sometimes he plays jazz with a friend or solo, but he misses concerts with a big audience.