In the early 1900s, the Trappists fled from the Catsberg (Mont des Cats) to Watou. They moved into the 'Patershof' farm (also known as 'Courtewyle'), a stone's throw from the current brewery. The farm was renamed 'Réfuge de Notre Dame de St.Bernard'. Réfuge is the French word for a place of refuge. The reason for their move? In France they had to pay taxes on their revenues and in Belgium this was not yet the case. The clergy will make cheese.
During these years attitudes towards the clergy in France improved. The Fathers of Mont Des Cats decided to withdraw their activities from Belgium and return to France. The cheese factory was taken over by Evariste Deconinck. Later the Réfuge was sold to the CPAS of Bruges.
During these years, Deconinck continued to build the cheese factory from the current guesthouse 'Brouwershuis' on the Trappistenweg. The cheese was sold under the brand name 'St.Bernard Watou' and 'Port Salut de Watou'.
Shortly after the Second World War, Evariste Deconinck was asked by the Trappists of Westvleteren to commercialize and brew their Trappist beers under license. The original license agreement was signed for a period of 30 years. The brewmaster Mathieu Szafranski (of Polish descent) moved with him and, in addition to the know-how, also brought the recipes and the famous St.Sixtus yeast. A new brewery was built next to the cheese factory. In 1959 the cheese dairy was sold, or at least the installation and the brand name were left to the St. Bertinus dairy in Poperinge, which later merged into the Elvapo group. In 1986, Belgomilk took over these activities. In the early 1960s, the husband of Bernadette Deconinck (daughter of Evariste), Guy Claus, entered the brewery and renegotiations were made with Westvleteren Abbey to renew the license agreement. This happened in 1962 for a new period of 30 years, so until 1992.
The agreement came to an end in 1992 because the Trappist breweries had decided to grant the "Authentic Trappist Beer" qualification only to beers brewed within the walls of the abbeys. From then on, the beers were sold under the brand name 'St.Bernardus'. Furthermore, this period was mainly one of uncertainty and a rather difficult quest to make a good restart of the brewery under the new brand name.
In 1998 Hans Depypere took over the brewery. Slowly but steadily Hans put the brewery back on track. Under his rule, the brewery has evolved from a few thousand hectoliters to approximately 40,000 hectoliters in sales in twenty years' time (2017). A great deal of investment was required for this, with the provisional end point being the opening of a completely new wing in 2018, with space for additional warehouses, a new brewery shop, party, conference and seminar rooms, new reception area for the brewery tours and, last but not least, to top it all off an impressive 360° rooftop bar annex tasting room, with the eloquent name 'Bar Bernard'.
DAFlys Posted at 6-20 23:54
Nicely done. Now how do we get free samples?
if you visit, with a tour of the brewery you get tokens. The first tasting was a new beer, a kind of light blond beer, another token was of your choice, and another token was a gift: four bottles with the drinking glass.
K-Castello Posted at 6-21 02:35
if you visit, with a tour of the brewery you get tokens. The first tasting was a new beer, a kind of light blond beer, another token was of your choice, and another token was a gift: four bottles with the drinking glass.
I like Belgium beer, its a shame we cannot travel, many a times Ive popped over to Bruge for lunch and a stroll, with the tunnel its very doable.
DAFlys Posted at 6-21 02:55
I like Belgium beer, its a shame we cannot travel, many a times Ive popped over to Bruge for lunch and a stroll, with the tunnel its very doable.
It should gradually improve. Also want to relive a weekend in London. Enjoyed it 3 years ago, and a great hotel on shoreditch
K-Castello Posted at 6-21 13:30
It should gradually improve. Also want to relive a weekend in London. Enjoyed it 3 years ago, and a great hotel on shoreditch
Shoreditch is getting very trendy, we have a relative thats actually retired there from the countryside. We dont get it but they love all the bars/restaurants etc.
DAFlys Posted at 6-21 22:50
Shoreditch is getting very trendy, we have a relative thats actually retired there from the countryside. We dont get it but they love all the bars/restaurants etc.
I also like trendy cities, but would never want to live there again. i like the countryside too much. have already visited many cities such as london, amsterdam, rome, paris, barcelona, etc, but in my leave there must also be flat land, usually i find it in france too. The Alps, which is not really flat land, was great for me. I will definitely return to that point between Italy, Switzerland and France (Region Mont Blanc), and with the dog, it is also its natural habitat.
K-Castello Posted at 6-22 01:09
I also like trendy cities, but would never want to live there again. i like the countryside too much. have already visited many cities such as london, amsterdam, rome, paris, barcelona, etc, but in my leave there must also be flat land, usually i find it in france too. The Alps, which is not really flat land, was great for me. I will definitely return to that point between Italy, Switzerland and France (Region Mont Blanc), and with the dog, it is also its natural habitat.
Im totally with you on that one, we dont understand why he's doing the reverse.
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Now how do we get free samples?
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