Photo, above: Dries and André Jannsens,
Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal.
Brouwerij
Hof ten Dormaal: a barrel aging project
One of
Belgium’s newest farm breweries recently began
an exciting new project.
Yours truly
was just there to check it out.
(Photos, above: Brouwerij and farm of Hof ten Dormaal.)
Hof ten
Dormaal, located near Tildonk in the northeastern part of the Province of Flemish
Brabant, near Haacht, has added new blond and dark ales to their lineup. Both
are 12% abv. What’s even more exciting is that these beers will be aged in barrels
that recently contained Armagnac, Cognac, Jenever, Madeira, Port, and Sherry!
(Photo, above: former Port barrels at Hof ten Dormaal.)
Owner André Jannsens
told me during my visit on May 1st: “I went to France, Germany,
Italy and Spain in search of freshly used barrels. It’s pretty easy to find
good used wine barrels, but hard to find Cognac and Armagnac. I developed a
relationship with a small producer of those in France, and I was there when
these were emptied.”
(Photos, above: former Cognac and Madeira barrels.)
André’s son
Dries, Hof ten Dormaal’s brewer, went to Portugal in search of Madeira barrels.
“There is a firm that builds these barrels (new) in a little town about 30 km
from Porto. They sell them to the Madeira makers, and then buy them back once
used a few times. The firm, J. Dias & CA, SA, then sells the used barrels
to whiskey producers, and us, as you can see. They even branded the barrels
with our logo.”
(Photos, above: former Jenever barrels. They were also former wine,
then whiskey barrels.)
The former
Jenever barrels were first used by a winery many years ago, then by whiskey
makers for over 50 years. They then held Belgian Jenever for 20 years. Now,
they will contain beer. That’s a great run of…alcohol maturation!
(Photos, above: a tasting of six different barrel-aged beers
in the brewery tasting room.)
The same
base blond and dark ales will be used for all the barrel aging: “The only
difference will be which barrel the beer is aged in,” André commented. As the
nuances from these brews will come from the barrels, the hop content is very
minimal: “These beers only have about 1/3 the hops of our Amber and Blond
Saisons,” Dries mentioned, as we tasted a sample from each of the six different
barrel-aged brews.
(Photo, above: five of the six barrel aged beers. Corked,
75 cl bottles. Photo courtesy DVT Photography.)
“We will age
the beers for about 2 months in the barrels, then they will be put into 75 cl
corked bottles. A small amount of sugar will be added at bottling to spark a
refermentation,” Andre told me. There will be about 2,000 to 3,000 liters per
bottling for each of the different barrel types. So that makes somewhere
between 3,000 and 4,000 bottles for each flavor, so to speak. Most of Hof ten
Dormaal’s barrels hold between 400 and 600 liters each.
Why two
months as maturation period, you ask? “Professor Freddy Delvaux, who is the
Head of the Center for Malting and Brewing Science, at the Katholieke
University of Leuven, recommended this. He advised me that with freshly emptied
barrels, it should take about that length of time to impart the character of
the former wine or spirit into the beer within the barrel,” André told , as we
sipped a delicious Cognac-barrel aged sample.
(Photo, above: former Armangnac and Cognac barrels.)
Only the Armagnac,
Cognac and Jenever versions had reached full maturation at the time of my
visit, and I was very impressed by them, especially the Cognac version. I hear
Prof. Delvaux liked the Armagnac version best. The rest of the samples only had about 2 to 4
weeks aging time, so they were young, but with great potential, I think.
An early
bottle run took place in mid-May, just a few days ago. The beers will be labeled
as: Beer Nr. 1-Jenever; Beer Nr. 2-Armagnac; Beer Nr. 3-Cognac; Beer Nr. 4-Sherry;
and Beer Nr. 5-Madeira. No beer from the Port barrels have been bottled yet,
but that would assumedly be Beer Nr. 6.
(Photo, above: former cider barrels in an old WW II blockhouse
on the farm. They are not being used at this time.)
“I also
bought some used Aquavit, Grappa and Sauternes barrels, and I even have some
used cider barrels as well. But I have not decided as yet what to use these
for,” André remarked.
“Also, I
think I have found the perfect place to store our barrels. As you can see here,
we have no cellar at the brewery, and we don’t have an extensive amount of
room. There was an old Abbey one kilometer from here, and the cellars are 200
meters long, and 5 meters wide. That is a huge space. So, I think we will
relocate our barrel-aging project there, and also possibly install a small
bottling line in the future. The reason for this is that we want to limit the
possibility of infection in the brewery. So, we will keep our Saison beers and
barrel-aged beers separate,” Andre stated.
It may be
some time this autumn before we see these brews stateside. They will be
imported by 12 percent imports/Brian Ewing. See here
Hof ten
Dormaal is also adding a new bottling line soon. They had just poured a new
concrete floor in the room where the bottler will reside before my visit on
Belgium’s Labor Day, a national holiday. In fact, at least 25 cyclists stopped
and asked if they could pop in for a beer on that warm sunny Tuesday, as the country
backroad is popular cycling area.
(Photo, above: André pouring a Hof ten Dormaal
blond at In de Ster/Bij Boeres Krant in Wezemaal.)
(Photos, above: inside the brewery.)
The brewery
is best known for its Blond and Amber Saison/Farmhouse ales, as well as the
Witloof beer. Witloof is Belgian Endive, considered a delicacy in Belgium. They
also craft a winter brew in season.
(Photo, above: the pond and Belgian draft horses
on the right.)
Hof ten
Dormaal produces all the hops and malts needed for their beers on their farm. They
even have a pond and pasture across the road, with several authentic Belgian
Draft horses. It’s an incredibly serene and beautiful spot, and its tasting
room is open from 1 to 5 pm most Saturdays. They are also open for beer sales
from 6 to 8 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. See here for more info.
(Photos, above: Brouwerij Hof ten Dormaal's brewhouse
and fermentation room.)
