Westvleteren and St. Bernardus: the Real Story

This article originally appeared in the June/July issue of Ale Street News.



Top Photo: Brother Benedict and Brother Joris in the brewhouse
at Westvleteren/De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren.

The St. Bernardus-Westvleteren story has been the subject of much discussion over the years, even more so recently, as the popularity of both breweries has increased exponentially.

I have visited the brewery at St. Bernardus twice, and have made four visits to Brouwerij Westvleteren/De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren. My latest was in December 2009, when I toured the new and old breweries with Br. Joris, the monk in charge of the brewery.

Hence, I think I can shed some light on this interesting subject.

While I'm at it, I'm also going to show you some photos from inside the
breweries at Westvleteren and St. Bernardus.

Photo, above: entrance to secondary fermentation cellar. Above the
entrance it says: "Shhh....Here ripens the Trappist"

Photo, above: Brother Joris in the secondary fermentation cellar.

Brouwerij St. Bernardus opened in 1946 with an arrangement to brew beers under license for the nearby St. Sixtus Abdij (Westvleteren) for commercial sale.

The years immediately after the Second World War were a difficult time for the monks of St. Sixtus, as the brewery and abbey needed major renovations after years of German occupation. The roads around the abbey were also in very bad shape.

Photo, above: spent grain being pumped out of the brewhouse at
Westvleteren.

Hence, the monks needed money for the renovations, and also to sustain themselves. They decided to make an agreement with Evarist Deconinck, who ran a cheese makery located not far away, among farmland a couple of miles outside the picturesque village of Watou. Ironically, this same cheese makery had been founded and run by the Trappist monks of the Mont de Cats monastery in nearby France, who had fled their country in a time of turmoil. The monks called the farm “Refuge de Notre Dame de St.Bernard,” and their primary source of income came from sales of their Abbey cheese. When these monks went back to France, Deconinck took over the farm and cheese makery. Later, the Claus family took over from him. The brewery name, St. Bernardus, comes from the monk’s name for the farm.

The original St. Sixtus Abbot 12 (Abt for short) had already been changed from its original formulation when this occurred. Until sometime in the 1930’s, the Abt really did have 12% abv. However, it was very difficult to brew, as the high alcohols often killed the yeast. Additionally, the monks did not have the high-tech labs of today, so it wasn’t easy to brew high alcohol beers back then. Hence, the beer was reformulated a bit to reduce the alcohol to 11% abv, which still packed a mighty punch.

Photo, above: the three beers of Westvleteren: Blond, 8, and 12.

The first three beers of St. Bernardus-namely, Pater 6, Prior 8, and Abt 12-were pattered after the similarly-named, dark, malty, strong brews of St. Sixtus. To achieve this, the brewmaster from the abbey joined St. Bernardus and brought along all the recipes, the yeast, the equipment and the brewing knowledge.

The open (primary) fermentation room at Westvleteren

Photo, above: close up of one open fermenter in action at Westvleteren.

Note that the beers of Abdij St-Sixtus have been referred to strictly as “Trappist Westvleteren” by the monks for the last decade or so. These beers have no labels today, but such was not always the case. Many bottles did, in fact, have colorful labels until sometime in the 1950’s.

Photo, above: old Westvleteren bottles from the 1950's or 1960's. Taken
inside the old brewery at Westvleteren.

You can still find bottles of beer brewed at St. Bernardus with the words “Trappist” and “Westvleteren” and “St. Sixtus” printed on them, at places that carry aged beers, like Bierhuis Kulminator in Antwerp.

These are bottles of Prior 8 brewed at St. Bernardus in the 1970's.
Note the word "Trappist"on the labels.

In the beginning of the 1960’s, the son-in-law of Evarist Deconinck, Guy Claus, took over the brewery. Negotiations then began with the monks of St-Sixtus to renew the license. This process was completed in 1962, when St. Bernardus was again granted a license to brew beer for Westvleteren, for a period of 30 years.

In 1992, this arrangement came to an end, and the monks of St. Sixtus decided not to renew the license. The Trappist Abbeys had decided that the term ‘Trappistenbier’ could only be applied to beers brewed inside the walls of the Trappist Monastery, under the control of monks.

This allowed the monks of St. Sixtus to increase production a bit, as they had opened a new, larger capacity brewery in May, 1990. However, to this day they still produce no more than 4,750 hl (about 4,000 US barrels) per year.

St. Bernardus then entered the marketplace on its own. It has been a great success.

Marco Passarella, Sales Manager of Brouwerij St. Bernardus,
in the brewhouse.

Brouwerij St. Bernardus cuts no corners in the production of its beers. To make very complex, flavorful strong ales takes time. The Abt 12 has an overall production period of over 3 months, from primary fermentation to maturity. This includes 2 months of cold conditioning and a further 2 weeks of warm-conditioning.

Photo, above: the mash tun at Brouwerij St. Bernardus

All the St. Bernardus beers are unfiltered, unpasteurized and bottle-conditioned. All are offered in 33cl and 75cl bottles, and kegs of various sizes. The Abt 12 is also now available in 6 liter (Methuselah) bottles. That would make for a very big tasting, my friends!

This is a sight I'd like to see pulling up to my front door!

Ironically, it is the brews of St. Bernardus that still use the original Westvleteren/St. Sixtus yeast, while Westvleteren has used Westmalle’s yeast since the early 1990’s. While Abt 12 was originally based on Westvleteren Abt, it has achieved much renown in its own right in the last ten or fifteen years.

Brouwerij St. Bernardus has seen its beer sales increase at a rate of 10 to 15% per annum for several years, and major renovations and expansions are underway at present. Sales doubled from a 2003 level of 8,500 hl to 17,000 hl in 2009. Look for this brewery to continue to grow, and keep lots of beer lovers (like me) happy. See: sintbernardus.be and specialtybeer.com.

Needless to say, the Trappist beers of St-Sixtus/Westvleteren haven’t exactly been ignored by beer lovers, either! The Abbey is under construction and renovations as well. See: sintsixtus.be.

Photo, above: me and Brother Joris in the lab at Westvleteren,
about to open a 1969 Westvleteren Abt 12.

Belgium's "New" Farmhouse Ale Breweries

This article originally appeared in the June/July issue of
Celebrator Beer News.
Thanks to editor Tom Dalldorf for allowing me to republish it here.



Top Photo: Alexandre Dumont de Chassart (left) and
Stéphane Meulemans, partners in Brasserie de Jandrain-Jandrenouille.
They have bottles of Saison V (left) and IV (right) in front of them.


Belgium's "New" Farmhouse Ale Breweries

“My wife and I bought this farm in 2005. Some of the old stone buildings date to 1749. We spent the first two years renovating it, and adding running water and electricity,” said Alexandre Dumont de Chassart, one of the two brewing partners of Brasserie Jandrain-Jandrenouille. The brewery, located in the province of Wallonian Brabant, about 30 minutes south of Brussels, is situated among gently rolling fields, near the small village of Jandrain. It is in a very rural location; a classic locale for a Farmhouse brewery.

“We opened our brewery in 2006, and sold the first beer in October 2007. We brewed about 150 hectos during the first year,” Stéphane Meulemans, Dumont’s partner, told me as we toured the brewery in April 2009. Stéphane and Alexandre’s day jobs? They work for Washington’s Yakima Chief in Louvain-la-Neuve, selling American hops in Europe and further afield. That’s beer karma, eh?

“I have spent a lot of time in the USA and Belgium drinking microbrews, with a constant quest for a new kind of product. It was only natural that I’d want to open a brewery some day,” Stéphane commented. “Alexandre and I met at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve while studying engineering. We were always experimenting with homebrewing. A commercial brewery, making the kind of beers we like, was the next step” he added.

Photo, above: the brewhouse at Jandrain-Jandrenouille

The brewing system is made by Northern Breweries in the USA. It has a 10 hl batch size.

“Our well is over 60 meters deep” Alexandre told me. “The oldest part of the farm dates to the 14th century,” he continued. “In fact, this area was the scene of a battle between French and Austrian troops in 1740, as well as other battles through the centuries. Hence, the farm was designed so it could be completely enclosed and self-sufficient during those times.”

The first beer produced was Saison IV, named both for the four seasons and also its four ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast. In fact, it also has four varieties of hops in its recipe. IV could also represent the fourth child of both partners, Stéphane mentioned. “It’s a little bit of a play on words,” he said, as Danny van Tricht and I tasted this refreshing brew. It has a pronounced hoppy character with citrus and grapefruit notes. No spices are used; just American and other hops, the varieties of which are a secret, except that one is Cascade. The beer is dry-hopped, and eminently well-balanced, with about 30 ibu. I did find the draft version dangerously drinkable for its 6.5% abv. The bottled version was delicious as well.

Photo, above: bags of used dry hops at Jandrain-Jandrenouille

“Our second beer was the V Cense, which is a little stronger and maltier than the IV, with 7.5% abv. It is an Amber beer, with five ingredients and 30 ibu. It’s also dry-hopped,” said Alexandre. He added: “The V Cense has a more complex mouthfeel and aroma than the IV Saison. It is brewed with 3 different malts (Pils, Munich, and Caramel) and has very light spicing.”

“We want our beers to be earthy and not too soft or well-rounded. The fruitiness should come primarily from the hops and not fermentation or spices. In fact, our newest beer is a kind of Blanche, or Witbier. This wheat beer, which we have not yet named, will use no spicing in its recipe. Aromatic American hops will provide its specific taste, flavor and aroma character,” Alexandre told me in early May.

About 200 hectos of beer were produced at Jandrain-Jandrenouille in 2009, and the partners predict about 300 to 400 hectos will be brewed in 2010. “We are waiting for a couple of new 36 hl fermenting tanks, so we can expand capacity” Alexandre commented. “And we have a couple of students working here during the week, as we work our day jobs,” he added. “So things are going well.”

Photo, above: entrance to Hof ten Dormaal

In a rural area in the Province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, there is an even newer Farmhouse ale brewery: Hof ten Dormaal. “I bought the farm in 1999” brewer/owner Andre Jansssens told me, as we sat in the brewery on a cold December day. “This used to be a big farm, and it still is. It was founded around 1100, and the oldest part of current house dates to 1680.”

Just across the country road from the brewery, there is a pasture with a farm pond where Andre keeps several Belgian draft horses. It’s a very serene setting. On the same side of the road as the brewery is a remnant of more recent, turbulent time: a stone blockhouse that was part of the Maginot line. “Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the German army in WW II” Andre commented.

“I used to own an accounting business, and sold it to do something less stressful” Andre told me. “But I knew I couldn’t make a living just by farming, so I opened the brewery in May 2009. A brewing engineer from the brewing school at Leuven helped, and created the recipes.”

Photo, above: Andre Jansssens, owner of Hof ten Dormaal

The brewery? It comes second hand from the USA. It was formerly at a John Harvard’s brewhouse; Andre bought it in Montana. “The weak dollar really helped, as it was too expensive to buy a new brewery,” he added.

And the brewery concept? “We want to be as self-sufficient as possible. We grow and mill all of our own grain, and grow all our own hops. We also want to cultivate out own yeast strain, and power the brewery with rapeseed oil that we produce,” Andre commented. All very ambitious goals, no doubt! Hopefully, the family will succeed in all these endeavors.

Photo, above: Andre pouring an Amber

“The Blond is an ale of 8% abv, that has a distinct, yet balanced, hop presence. It is made in the style of our traditional Belgian Saisons, but with a slightly bigger body. The Amber is a 7.5% spiced ale, with a delicate balance between sweet and bitter. Both are very effervescent, refreshing, and easy drinking” Andre told me, as we sipped an Amber. It was quite delectable, as was the Blond. “As you can see, we package them in 375 ml, corked bottles. I also fill limited numbers of 20 and 30 liter kegs, and we did a Christmas beer this year as well,” he added. See: hoftendormaal.com and 12percentimports.com.

Photo, above: Andre keeps several Belgian draft horses at his farm.

Gueuzerie Tilquin article in Celebrator Beer News

Well, long time no post. Summer, with its many beer fests,

will do that to you...

I have a 1,000+ word article on Belgium's new lambic blendery,

Gueuzerie Tilquin, in the August/September issue of

Celebrator Beer News.

I think this is the first article about this new operation to be

published in the USA beer press.

I look for great things from blender Pierre Tilquin, who is a

knowledgeable and passionate lover of lambic and gueuze beers.

Celebrator can be found at better beer bars, breweries and other

beer destinations. For subscription info, see: http://www.celebrator.com/.

Cheers!

Above photo: me (left) and Pierre Tilquin (right) in the blendery

Brouwerij Liefmans of Oudenaarde

I visited Liefmans, the iconic brewer of sour brown ales and respected kriek brews, on Thursday, June 3rd. It was a beautiful, sunny day, with a high around 80 degrees and low humidity. Was I really in Belgium?



A week after my last visit, in December 2007, a bankruptcy court had forced Liefmans to stop operations and close. Fortunately for the beer lovers of the world, Brouwerij Duvel-Moortgat made the best offer for the brewery site, equipment, brands, and beer stock about six months later, and now owns Liefmans.



Duvel-Moortgat brews a quality wort at their headquarters in Breendonk, and then transports it by tanker truck to the Liefmans site in Oudenaarde. The wort-or unfermented beer-is then placed into two huge open copper fermenters (with a capacity of 230 and 460 hl) where it spends a week maturing. It is then transferred to closed fermenters. The Riva Group, which formerly owned the brewery, used the same process from 1991 till 2007.



Photo, above: open fermenter at Liefmans



Photo, above: site manager Marc Coeessens with a glass of
wort, right from the open copper fermenter

Sitting in the open fermenters for a week exposes the wort to whatever wild yeast strains may inhabit the brewery, and lends a pleasant tartness to the beers. “It’s really a mixed yeast culture here” Site Manager and tour leader Marc told us. “There are the ale yeasts used to brew the wort, and the wild yeasts that produce a lactic acid bacteria which gives the beer its tartness,” he added.



Photo, above: open copper fermenter at Liefmans

The Oud Bruin is aged for a minimum of two years, and both it and the Goudenband are a blend of older and younger beers.



Photo, above: site manager Marc Coeessens pouring a glass of
Oud Bruin from a fermenter

Liefmans Oud Bruin, Goudenband and Cuvee Brut (formerly Liefmans Kriek) have been given new packaging by Duvel Moortgat, and it’s impressive. See the photos!


Photo, above: Marc pouring a Goudenband in the tasting cafe

My group (which included Belgian journalist Danny Van Tricht, as well as Christophe and Stefanie from De Bistronoom, Ostende’s great new beer cuisine restaurant) were given samples of the wort from the copper fermenter. Yum! “This wort is for the Kriek” Marc told me. “You’ll taste the finished product soon!” he added.


Photo, above: cherries in a fermenter

And indeed we did. Off to the Kriek/Cuvee Brut fermentation hall we soon went, where we tasted several versions of unsweetened Kriek, dating from 2006, 2007 and 2008. It was absolutely fabulous, especially the 2006 and 2007 vintages. The 2009 was not being used yet, so we did not taste that one. Each of the 18 massive fermenters in this hall holds 700 hl (about 587 US barrels) of beer, for a total capacity of nearly 13,000 hl.


Photo, above: the fermentation hall where the Kriek/Cuvee Brut matures

However, the tanks are never completely full of beer, as the cherries take up a lot of space. In fact, each fermenter holds about 9,000 kilos-nearly 20,000 pounds- of cherries when full. The tanks with the aged vintages held about 400 hl worth of beer at our visit.


Photo, above: the massive 700 hl kriek fermenting tanks

Most of the cherries used are grown in Belgium, but some are sourced in Denmark. When available, that is. These cherries are of the Stevens variety, and are a bit hard to find: “They are very dark red in color, and very similar to the ones from Schaarbeek, near Brussels” Marc told me.

Unsweetened Kriek to return in Belgium (!!!)

I have good news for those living in or visiting Belgium: the Liefmans unsweetened Kriek is set to make a comeback, on draft only, at a few selected cafes. Hotel/Restaurant Erasmus in Brugge may be the first.

Erasmus used to have the unsweetened Kriek on draft from time to time in the last decade. It’s quite possible that Bierhuis Kulminator in Antwerp may again have this tart, satisfying, complex brew on tap soon as well. In fact, Marc told us that Duvel-Moortgat won’t offer the beer at the Duvel Depot, but only to a few select places. When I mentioned why not have an outlet in Brussels, Ghent or other cities as well, he did not seem opposed to the idea: “We will not make any publicity about the unsweetened Kriek. You will have to be a beer lover than knows about it. We are limited in production and don’t want to publicize it world-wide” Marc continued.


Photo, above: Elfried (who handles the fermentation) with a glass of
unsweetened kriek, right from a fermenter

As to the possibility of brewing again on site, Marc told us: “We did consider re-starting the brewery, but the adaptations and changes that would have to be made to it to make it meet the modern food safety rules are too extensive to make it worthwhile. So we will continue to brew the wort at Duvel-Moortgat.”


Photo, above: one of the brewkettles in the original 1930 brewhouse


Photo, above: the hopback form the 1930 brewery


5,000 hl of beer was produced at Liefmans in 2009, mostly of the Cuvee Brut. “We intend to double the production soon” Marc added. “We will even start to advertise the beers on TV and in print” Marc mentioned.



Even as Liefmans looks to the future, it looks to the past. We toured the cellar, as I had done in 2007, and looked over the hundreds, nay, more like thousands, of bottles of past vintages of various brews, primarily the Goudenband.



“We’d like to take the beers out and refurbish the cellar a bit, perhaps paint it” Marc told us as we marveled at 37.5 cl, 75 cl and Magnum-sized bottles of aged treasure. “and then put them back in.”



Now that sounds like a good idea.



As to the huge tasting hall/restaurant space at Liefmans, replete with a bar full of Liefmans beers on tap, it’s now rented out to a company that holds weddings, parties and other events.

See Liefmans for more info.

"Belgium: The Perfect Two Weeks" in special Travel issue of All About Beer Magazine

I'm happy to say that I have a 1,500 word article in "Beer Traveler:
Where Beer Love Meets Wanderlust" which is a special publication
of All About Beer Magazine.

The story is called "Belgium: The Perfect Two Weeks."

I'll take you through a fun-filled, beery week in Flanders, and
another equally great seven days in Wallonia and Brussels. Along
the way, you'll experience some of the most interesting beer
destinations in "The Beer Country."

The article is designed so that you could follow the route and visit
each place discussed, which should be open on the day and time listed.
I say 'should' as opening days and times change frequently in Belgium,
and bar and brewery owners do take vacations, of course.

Copies can be obtained wherever All About Beer Magazine is sold,
such as Borders and Barnes and Noble stores, and here:

http://allaboutbeer.com/beertraveler

I hope you like the article!

Gezondheid, Sante and Cheers!

3 Fonteinen: the final Oude Geuze brewed on site

Top photo: Armand Debelder with his final brewed-on-site
Oude Geuze. The bottle is the same type used for Asti Spumante
champagne.


There’s been a lot of conjecture about the future of the hallowed Drie Fonteinen (“Three Fountains”) geuze blendery in the last year or so. After “The Catastrophe” of May 16, 2009, when about 100,000 or so bottles of Oude Geuze, Oude Kriek and other lambics-nearly an entire seasons’ worth of production-was overheated due to a thermostat failure, things looked bleak.

The creation of “Armand’s Spirit” (called an "Eau de Vie van Oude Geuze" on its label, it is sort of bier schnapps/liquor of 40% abv) produced from distilling the unusable lambics, has provided a new revenue source for brewer/blender Armand Debelder. The profit margin is higher and the process of distilling is much less labor intensive than brewing, Armand, 58, told me during my visit to 3 Fonteinen on May 28th.

More than half the 6,000 bottles (500 ml size) had already been sold as of several months ago. There is definitely an interesting, subtle, geuze-like quality to the spirit, which is well worth seeking out if you just happen to be in Belgium.

(or, if you have a friend, relative, co-worker, or mere acquaintance, maybe you can convince them to bring you a bottle, while they last. Tell them I said so.)

“I also lost my brewery in 2009” Armand remarked as we talked in the lambic barrel room. “And the cost of the new brewery was the cost of what was lost in the catastrophe. So I won’t brew again here, for those reasons. But I do have some good news for lambic beer lovers” he stated.

I was eagerly anticipating his next comments, after that statement!

Happily, I was not disappointed.

“I had a stock of 13,000 liters of lambic brewed here in 2007, 2008 and 2009” Armand said. “So we have just produced a final, Drie Fonteinen-only Oude Geuze with these lambics. We are going to make this last-ever brewed on site beer one to remember!” he commented.



“I had a really exceptional 3 year old lambic, which your friends Brian (Stillwater) and Gunther (Bensch) tasted back in March” he continued. “It’s now been blended with my last 1 and 2 year old lambics, to make this Oude Geuze” he remarked.

Continuing, he exclaimed: “and now, Chuck” we are going to taste it!”

OK, twist my arm. Duty calls. Anything for Beer Research!

“As you can see, we are not using the typical lambic bottle for this one. This is because this beer will be one of a kind, the last Oude Geuze brewed here; the final single 3 Fonteinen blend. The bottle we are using is the Asti Spumante champagne type, which costs two and half times what a normal champagne bottle does. This product must have fine presentation, great taste and be unique.”



Armand continued “My wife Lydie worked in the marketing department of an American company for a number of years, and learned the value of presentation and marketing. I never cared about presentation in the past. She has taught me a lot about how to present my products.”

“Of course I used aged Challenger hops in this brew, as I usually do. These hops are not very much used in the lambic world, but I really like them. This Oude Geuze, which we have yet to name, is not filtered and no finings were used in it. It was just blended and then bottled” Armand stated.

He continued: “You are the first American to taste this beer, as it’s still young, and a bit soft. It was just bottled in March. But I think it will be a good one. We have not decided when it will be released for sale as yet. It won’t be offered until I feel it is fully mature and ready.”



That should keep beer lovers interested.

For a good, long while.

I found the beer to be a very enjoyable Oude Geuze, with great potential.

Only time will tell.

Armand will continue to buy wort from Boon, Girardin and Lindemans and place them in his own barrels for aging and later blending to produce Oude Geuze, Oude Kriek, and possibly other blends, as in the past. Plans to open a distillery on site are still being considered.

St. Bernardus and Westvleteren: the Real Story

Top photo: me and Brother Joris in the lab at Westvleteren
(De Sint-Sixtusabdij van Westvleteren) about to open a 1969
Abt 12.

Hi everybody! I survived ten days in Belgium, three days of
Philly Beer Week,and the Sante event in Baltimore between the
end of of May and last Sunday.

I'm starting to feel like myself again after several days resting up.

I have five new articles out in three different beer publications
as of the first week of June.




Two of them are in Ale Street News. One is my regular "Belgian
Babble"column. The other is "St. Bernardus and Westvleteren: The
Real Story" which tells a brief history of the St. Bernardus and
Westvleteren beers.

This one is not on-line, so you'll have to get a copy of the
brewspaper and have a look at page 11-A. I might be able to
put the story on this site at a later time.



Photo: Marco Passarella, Sales and Marketing Manager for
St. Bernardus (left) in the brewhouse