Rodenbach is a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. The ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, now owned by

Palm Breweries Palm Breweries is a brewery company. It owns several different Belgian breweries. Total production was 1,700,000 hl of beer in 2004. The brewery was a member of the Belgian Family Brewers society until 2016. History As early as 1597, records can ...

. It is noted for its barrel-aged

sour beer Sour beer, also known as Sours, is beer which has an intentionally acidic, tart, or sour taste. Traditional sour beer styles include Belgian lambics, gueuze and Flanders red ale, and German gose and Berliner Weisse. Brewing Unlike modern brewing, ...

s in the Flemish red style.

Brewery

In 1821, the four Rodenbach brothers (Pedro, Alexander, Ferdinand and Constantijn) invested in a small brewery in Roeselare, in the West Flanders province of Belgium. The brothers agreed to a partnership for fifteen years. At the end of this period, Pedro and his wife,

Regina Wauters Regina Wauters (1 March 1795 – 24 January 1874) was a Belgian businesswoman and brewer. She was instrumental in founding the Rodenbach Brewery in Roeselare. Biography Born in Mechelen, Regina Wauters was the daughter of a rich local brewer. Sh ...

, bought the brewery from the others and Regina ran the business while Pedro served in the military. Their son Edward later took over the brewery (1864), and it was during his directorship that the brewery saw great growth. Edward's son, Eugene, took over in 1878 and, in preparation for this position, travelled to England where he learned how to ripen beer in oak barrels and then mix old and young beers. It was this method of producing beer that Rodenbach became famous for. As Eugene produced no male offspring, a public limited liability corporation was created and most shares remained in the hands of descendants of the Rodenbachs until 1998 when the brewery was sold to Palm Brewery. After the take-over, Palm quickly stopped production of Rodenbach's Alexander beer, a cherry-flavoured beer. However, in recent years, Palm/Rodenbach has produced and distributed, first, Rodenbach foederbier, which is served only from cask, and is unfiltered and unblended. It comes straight from an oak riping barrel and is not processed further. More recently, the brewery has produced Vin de Céréale, sold only in bottles. This is similar to foederbier, but has been in the barrel longer (about three years) and has been formulated for more alcohol. Foederbier is usually 5-6 percent, while Vin de Céréale is 10 percent.Brewery History
/ref> From 1980 until 2000, Rodenbach supplied the yeast and bacteria culture that provided their distinctive taste profile and sourness to

De Dolle Brouwers De Dolle Brouwers ("The Mad Brewers") is a Belgian brewery, based in Esen in the province of West Flanders. The building housing the brewery is believed to date from 1835 and has a long brewing history since its inception by local doctor Louis N ...

in nearby Esen for use in some of their beers. They had historically also sometimes supplied yeast to

Westvleteren Brewery Westvleteren ( nl, Brouwerij Westvleteren) is a brewery founded in 1838 at the Trappist Abbey of Saint Sixtus in Vleteren, Belgium. The brewery's three beers have acquired an international reputation for taste and quality; Westvleteren 12 is co ...

and Brouwerij Felix in

Oudenaarde Oudenaarde (; french: Audenarde ; in English sometimes ''Oudenarde'') is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Oudenaarde proper and the towns of Bevere, Edelare, Eine, Ename, Heu ...

.http://www.thebarn.com/pipermail/mba/2005-June/003247.html Letter from Kris Herteleer of De Dolle Brouwers

Beers

There are several different types of Rodenbach beers: * ''Rodenbach Original'' (5.2%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

) blended from aged and young ale (25%/75%) * ''Rodenbach Grand Cru'', a winey beer (6% ABV) which contains less young ale (67%/33%) * ''Rodenbach Vintage beer'', this beer is unblended aged beer from a single cask selected for its qualities by a tasting panel, formerly sold as ''Grand Cru'' * ''Vin de Céréale'', an aged beer that is 10% ABV * ''Caractère Rouge'', beer, already having undergone maturation, that is put through further aging and maceration with

cherries A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

raspberries The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...

, and

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...

In commemoration of the brewery's 150th year of activity, it produced ''Rodenbach Alexander'', a variant of Original with cherry flavor. Its name comes from the brewery founder, Alexandre Rodenbach.

Gallery

File:Rodenbach coat of arms.jpg, Rodenbach coat of arms File:Rodenbach original malt kiln.jpg, Rodenbach original malt kiln File:Rodenbach entrance to old brewery.jpg, Entrance to old brewery File:Rodenbach grain silo.jpg, Grain silo File:Rodenbach original wort cooker.jpg, Old copper wort cooker File:Rodenbach modern wort cooker.jpg, Modern wort cooker File:Rodenbach aging barrels.jpg, Rodenbach Brewery aging barrels File:Rodenbach original and grand cru.jpg, Rodenbach Original and Grand Cru File:Rodenbach rosso kriek.jpg, Rodenbach Rosso, a sweet kriek (cherry) lambic-like beer

References

External links

Rodenbach Brewery (in Dutch, English and French)Brouwerij Rodenbach
Brewery details from ''BeerTourism.com'' {{Coord, 50.946495, 3.137610, format=dms, type:landmark_region:BE, display=title Belgian brands Breweries of Flanders Companies based in West Flanders Roeselare