This page is intended to provide
information on the latest developments on the Wallonian beer and brewing scene.
The start point for this information is the book
The Beers Of Wallonia that was published in October
1996. It is assumed that you are already familiar with the contents of the book
and therefore this page helps keep you completely up to date.
Forthcoming Events
New Breweries
Brasserie Abbaye du Val-Dieu is a dream come true. A secular brewer operating in the grounds of the abbey, north-west of Liège. The Val-Dieu beers used to be made by Brasserie Piron (before it was taken over by Achouffe) and the Flemish brewer Van Honsebrouck, now they are all made at the abbey. The beers are a Blonde (6.5%), a Brune (8%) and a Triple (9%).
Brasserie de Bouillon a microbrewery opened summer 1998 at Le Marché de Nathalie beer-store.
Le Brasse-Temps is a new microbrewery operated by Dubuisson in Louivain-la-Neuve. They started with two beers Cuvée des Trolls, 7% and L'Ambrée, 6% MAP
Brasserie Artisanale des Bruyeres is a very small concern operating from the garage of the owners house. The beers are La Botteresse Ambrée (8.5%) and Brune and La Madelone (8.5%)
Brasserie des Fagnes opened in March 1998 in Couvin, Namur. They produce Super des Fagnes which used to be brewed and bottled by Brasserie Du Bocq. They will produce six beers including blanche, ambrée, blonde and brune.
Brasserie la Tongrinnoise is in Tongrinne and currently produces just one beer - the 8% La Tongrinnoise.
Brasserie de la Touffe is in Walloon Brabant and produces a blanche, blonde, ambrée and brune (8%).
Closed Breweries
Eupener Bierbrauerei, has apparently been bought by the north Belgian brewery Haacht (late 1998). Rumour has it that the brewery will be closed but the Eupener Pils and Caramel beers will be brewed at Haachts Boortmeerbeek plant.
Brasserie Artisanale du Hameau, ceased trading in 1997.
Brasserie Piron, never recovered from the problems mentioned in the book and was bought by Brasserie Achouffe in late 1996.
Brasserie Artisanale de la Praile, sometimes known as Brasserie Artisanale de Peissant ceased trading early in 1997.
Brasserie Ruwet, has not ceased trading but in 1998 stopped brewing. Its beers are now produced at the Abbaye de Val-Dieu.
Brasserie de la Tour, ceased trading around April 1998 citing "all sorts of financial reasons" as the cause.
New Beers by Brewery
Achouffe - Chouffe Bière de Mars 7.5% An excellent beer that is full of fresh fragrant hops. See featured brewery for label.
Bruyeres - La Botteresse de Noël 8.5% Produced for the first time for Christmas 1998.
D'Ambly - La Malagne 7.5% is produced for an archeological site.
La Gatte d'Or 7.5% a very brown beer available in 25cl bottles.
Vieille Cuvée D'Ambly 7% is Saint Monon under another label.
Chimay
The Chimay Blanche is now (2001) marketed as Triple.
Du Bocq
La Wambrechies 7.5% A beer brewed with the French version of Genever gin for a French distillery (Claeyssens). It used to be made by Brunehaut.
Corsendonk Christmas Ale 8.5% An addition to the "brewed on behalf of" Corsendonk beers for 1998.
Dubuisson
Bush Ambrée 12% Not actually a new beer but the new name for Bush Beer (Scaldis in USA). 1998 is the 65th anniversary of Bush Beer and the brewery have taken the opportunity to change the name and the label.
Bush Blonde 10.5% A blonde and slightly weaker sister for the powerful Ambrée. Introduced summer 1998, the same time the Ambrée name appeared.
Dupont
Bière de Miel 8% is based on a recipe reproduced from the 1890's. It is an impressive beer with pots of honey dominating a full pale malt and hop. Sweet, bitter, tangy and very full tasting.
There are actually two versions of this, one of which is organic. The front labels on the bottles are the same, only the back label differs.
Fantôme- This is a brewery that produces many beers during a year, a lot of which are one-offs whilst others have a very limited distribution. Amongst those that have been produced since the book went to print are :
Bière de la St. Martin
Black Ghost 8% Apparently all the production was for the drinks distributor Delépine in Brussels. However, in March 1997 it was definitely available in a number of Brussels bars including the Moeder Lambic and Bier Circus. It is an excellent winter beer with a good herbal aroma, a full, smooth palate that is very herbal and spicy, where the sweetness and bitterness are well balanced. There is a little liquorice and chocolate present and the finish is very warming with continuing liquorice and dark, bitter chocolate.
La Cuvée du Manoir
La Dalmatienne 9%
L'Incertaine
La Noire de Noire
Mibrana (Les Artisans Brasseurs) - La Wépionnaise 7.5% is a beer made with strawberries.
Rochefortoise - Rochefortoise Winter 12% Launched for Winter 1996 this is strong dark ale has a very rich, very warming character. Despite tasting very strong in alcohol it displays a good depth of complexity and typical Rochefortoise traits in its herbal traces and many layers of interest.
Rochefortoise Blonde 6.2% now has a different label.
Rochefortoise Brune 12% could be an all year round version of the Winter.
Silenrieux- Sara Biologique
Union- Cuvée de l'Ermitage is now back up to 8.5% abv.
Vervifontaine- La Phénoménale
Mater Dei Cuvée 58-98
OTHER BEER NEWS
Orval's Secret Beer
It has recently come to light thanks to the keen eyes of Mr. A. Bradbury that the Abbaye Notre Dame d'Orval actually has two beers to its credit. There is the world famous classic - the 6.2% Orval and another, known as Petite d'Orval. Investigation has produced the information that this is 3.5% and is brewed for consumption in the abbey. The only place it is supposed to be available is in the brewery recommended bar l'Ange Gardien near the abbey although Stephen D'Arcy was able to sample it at the Tessenderlo Beer Festival. The beer has a similar, though darker, orange hue to its big brother and the aroma is equally reminiscent of Orval. The palate is unmistakably Orval however, whilst still having a distinctive hop character, but more yeastiness it also has a strong appley fruit taste which John found very quenching. If you want to try it, the safest bet is to visit l'Ange Gardien, they sell it in bottles but refused to sell me any bottles to take away.
Brasserie Piron Acquired by Achouffe
In "Beers of Wallonia : Belgium's Best Kept Secret" we stated that Piron was having problems with its brewplant and was unlikely to start brewing again in 1996. The latest development is that Brasserie d'Achouffe has acquired the brewery and it is now called "Brasserie d'Aubel" after the town it is located in. Current production is centred on just one beer - Bière d'Aubel - a very interesting beer which was selling well at the OBP beer festival in November 1996. The beer has many similar qualities to Achouffe's excellent "La Vielle Salme" (8.3%) but comes out at just 6.9% alc.vol. making it lighter and much more quaffable. It has a very distinct apple note, due to 8% apple juice being added in place of the invert sugar for the refermentation in the bottle, and a good deal of hop interest although it was difficult to judge the beer objectively due to the ice cold temperature it was served at. The label depicts a chouffe-type dwarf holding an apple giving a good indication of what to expect. Currently (mid-1998) the beer is still being produced at the Achouffe site and each brew to date has been slightly different as they perfect the recipe. Needless to say, the beer is up to Achouffe's usual high standard and whichever variation of the recipe you find you will discover that it is definitely worth a try.
Brasserie À Vapeur
Jean-Louis Dits at Brasserie À Vapeur has found yet another way to market his pig beer. That strong fruity brew that is Cochonne has got a considerable boost from it's usual 9%. You can now get it at 40%. It's not a beer though. He has taken the Cochonne and distilled it, then added the 70% result of that to some fresh Cochonne to bring it back down to 40%.
The other big item of news from Vapeur is the replacement of the old open fermenters with a new conical fermenter. As might be expected this has had an effect on the beers - quite a profound one. The effects of infection that used to be such a hallmark of Vapeur beers has now disappeared. By March 1998 only Cochonne and a single batch of Saison de Pipaix had gone through the system. The Cochonne was obviously the same beer and probably better for the lack of infection but the Saison was almost unrecognisable and had certainly lost much of its complexity.
The beers will now be much more accessible to the general public but those that were prepared to try something different will probably mourn the new cleaner tastes.
Achouffe Again
This time the news relates to La Chouffe. It is now brewed under licence in Canada by Brasserie Le Cheval Blanc and is known as Blonde d'Achouffe. It comes in 65cl bottles. Intriguingly it is actually imported into Holland from Canada as well as from Belgium.
Brasserie Friart
It seems that the Flemish brewery De Smedt is now brewing Grisette, Jean de Nivelles and the smaller bottles of St Feuillien Cuvée de Noël.
Errata
We would like to correct a couple of errors in The Beers of Wallonia : Belgium's Best Kept Secret.
- On Page 162 the address of De Hopduvel (beer shop) should read "Coupure Links 625", Gent.
- On Page 163 the address of De Hopduvel (bar/cafe), should read "Rokerelstraat 10", Gent.
Updates
Since The Beers of Wallonia : Belgium's Best Kept Secret went to print things have moved on in the Wallonian beer world. There has also been been time for people to check out some of the brewery recommended bars - with a few interesting results.
- On Page 160 we recommend the Liège bar of La Vaudrée. It should be pointed out that this is La Vaudrée I in Angleur a suberb of Liège. There is also another (La Vaudrée II) in Rue Saint Gilles, opposite Le Student. This has the same beer list as La Vaudrée I.
- On Page 162 the Vapeur brewery recommended a Brussels bar called Les 2 Grand Gros. Unfortunately both Stephen D'Arcy and Peter Sutcliffe have tried to find this and report that there is merely a locals bar called Au Vicomte. They were also unable to find it listed in the telephone directory.
If you find any other errors in the book, changes since it went to print or just want to exchange any general information about Wallonian beer send us an e-mail
