Belgian again

Some Belgian beer recipe's have been around longer than Belgium has been Belgium.

It wasn't until the 1830's that the region of Belgium declared independence from the Northern Netherlands and formed their own provisional government. Religion was the main reason for the split, isn't it always religion ?, those Catholics and Proddies can never get on.

The district of what is now Belgium has been invaded many times throughout the centuries, they have suffered a few times from Germans during WW1 for 4 years and another 4 in WW2 and before that by the French during their revolution and Napoleonic wars, in fact right back the the 1st and 2nd crusades in the 11th century.

Belgium takeover was never the goal of these conflicts but the country is positioned in the middle of most of the European land war events and is the perfect thoroughfare between waring factions.

When neutral Belgium was invaded by the Germans in WW1, there were over 6000 breweries in Belgium and northern France. ( now less than 500. )

Grimbergen Abbey founded in 1128 burnt down in 1142 during the war of Gimbergen, rebuilt by the monks only to be burnt down again in 1566 during the religious wars. Re-established again in 1629 and adopted the Phoenix as their coat of arms.

Destroyed again by the French during their revolution in 1798. The forth resurrection in 2021 is called 'The New Grimbergen Abbey and is producing beer again. Such is the power of beer in a community.

Averbode abbey has a similar timeline and Affligem Abbey, established in 1074 by the Benedictine monks brewed beer to purify the drinking water for their monks and community. Destroyed by the Germans in WW2, their monks decided to brew locally at the Brewery Obwijk nearby after the war to continue their 1000 year old tradition.

Armies like to drink and pillage so these abbey breweries have needed to be rebuilt a few times.

Its estimated the German army fired over 200 million artillery rounds over the 4 year course of WW1, and mostly over the western front, being Belgium and northern France. These rounds take a lot of copper and steel to produce, Abbey and other breweries at the time were mostly copper boilers and fermenters.

The Germans during their takeovers, designated which breweries (the most modern) were allowed to continue production to supply their troops. Due to the wells and water heating equipment, the Germans converted other breweries into cavalry quarters, baths, laundries, watering stations and slaughterhouses. The rest were pillaged for materials that were shipped to German arms production plants.

Many brewers had their equipment ransacked by the occupiers, especially those who heeded the call from the Belgian government not to brew for the invaders. Some enterprising monks painted their copper kettles black to look like cast iron and were left alone by the hungry war machine.

The Carmelites are a Roman catholic monastic order founded in the Middle ages, and they still have monasteries in Belgium and the Netherlands. In the city of Dendermonde, a fortified town in central, what is now Belgium, the Carmelites had been present from the year 1655 onwards. the Carmelite monks brewed a 3 grain beer there for 150 years till the French threw them out in 1796, The Abbey became a courthouse which went up in flames when the Germans set fire to the whole city in WW1. No trace today of the Carmelites in Dendermonde but their recipe for 'Goedt beer' remains. Apparently it was written down in 1676 just as the city governors decreed that all citizens were to destroy their private breweries to facilitate the introduction and collecting of excise tax.

Bosteels brewery of Buggenhout, a non abbey brewery established in 1791, reintroduced this beer in 1996 when a recipe, lost for centuries was rediscovered. Tripel Karmeliet, named after the Carmelites, brewed today is now one of the most prized beers from the East Flemish region close to the town of Dendermonde.

Goedt Bier by the Carmelites of Dendermonde. 1679-1689

16 Barrel batch

12 vats of Wheat

36 vats or Barley

6 vats of Spelt or short oats

40 pounds of hops All up this cost about 60 Guilders in 1679 Plus labour. and firewood for heating.

Modernised by Bosteels in 1996

Barley malt 70%

Wheat Malt 20%

Rolled oats. 10% of grain bill

Hops Hallertau and Mittelfruh

Og 1.090

Fg 1.022

Abv 8.8%

Ibu 35

Yeast. Top fermenting Ale Yeast

The bottle pictured above recently purchased at my local bottlo cost $14. Purchased to do a side by side comparison. As a home brewer, this is an easy one to make, all the ingredients are available and surprisingly similar is the resulting brew.

Brew Love Andrew.