European Beer News (Issue 21)

by Carl Kins

Not only AB InBev is doing takeovers. Duvel also came into the picture with their takeover of Firestone Walker and Brouwerij ‘t IJ (Amsterdam). Moreover, the Keersmaekers family, owners of a brand portfolio including Corsendonck, Tempelier, etc. have gained complete control over Brasserie du Bocq (Purnode), their first brewery. And Unibra (Belgian based company focusing on Africa) has taken a 30 percent stake in Brouwerij Martens, Bocholt.

Although the competition is not as important as the World Beer Cup, the World Beer Awards received plenty of attention, as Belgian brewers scored big, e.g. Rodenbach (Rosso), Timmermans (Tradition Oude Gueuze) and Vander Ghinste (Oud Bruin).

Speaking of Rodenbach, they started a new initiative, Foeder Nights. This is a guided tour through all nooks and crannies of the brewery, with food pairing along the way. Hugely successful.

AB-InBev finally decided to help the Belgian hop growers, and ordered Eric Lagache, one of the bigger Poperinge growers to grow Whitbread-Goldings for their Leffe Royale.

Belgium is now included in the Brewdog realm, with the opening of their pub in a great and convenient location, next to the Brussels Central railway station.

Westmalle started distributing their cheese via retail, contrary to the past where the cheese could only be bought at the abbey gate. Meanwhile, construction work for the new brewery is going well, and one might expect the brewery to be operational in H1/2016. Meanwhile, the Norbertine Averbode monks already sold beer, cheese and bread, but have now added “monastic” gingerbread.

In September, there was a celebration in Hoegaarden, to commemorate Pierre Celis’ first brews of the famous witbier, 50 years ago.

Next to the US, there is also a “Beer Bloggers and Writers Conference” in Europe. It was hosted in Brussels in August, and included not only Belgian beer tastings but also some kind of a speed dating exercise, consisting of trying 11 beers in 1 hour all the while trying to put info on social media about them. Sounds like fun, right? However, most attendants talked about the presentation by Jean Hummler, owner of the famous Moeder Lambic pub, railing against gypsy brewers.

Werner Van Obberghem, telecom manager at Proximus, joined the 3 Fonteinen team. Werner received a part of the company shares, and in return was made responsible for marketing, finances, administration, etc., tasks he will fulfill after hours. Expect more 3 Fonteinen beers to be made available.

Kevin Verstrepen, professor at Leuven University and team have performed large-scale breeding experiments between six carefully selected Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains and two feral Saccharomyces eubayanus strains and achieved a number of new yeasts with desirable aromatic profiles that were significantly different from the profiles produced by the current applied lager yeasts. The intention is to use this new intelligence to produce more flavorful lagers.