St. Bernardus is a brewery in

Watou Watou is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders and a district of the town of Poperinge. The village has a population of 1,900. It lies on the border with France. The hamlet Abele (village), Abele is part of Watou. Poperinge is situate ...

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 ...

History

In the late 19th century

anti-clericalism Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

forced the Catsberg Abbey Community to move to the village of Watou in West

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, Belgium. The Refuge Notre Dame de St. Bernard was established, originally producing cheese to finance abbey activities. In 1934, it was decided to close the Belgian annex and return all monastic activities to France with Evarist Deconinck taking over the cheese factory. In 1945,

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

monastery St. Sixtus stopped selling its beer and an agreement was reached where the monks would brew beer for themselves and the beer could only be bought at the monastery and associated taverns. They gave a license to the cheese factory, and Brewery St. Bernard was founded. The brew master from Westvleteren, Mathieu Szafranski (from Polish origin) became a partner in the brewery and brought along the recipes, the know-how and the St. Sixtus yeast strain. Deconinck brewed and sold the Trappist beers under license before a new contract was agreed in 1962. The agreement ended in 1992 with the Trappist monasteries deciding that

Trappist beer Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks. Thirteen Trappist monasteries—six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, and Spain—currently produce beer, but the ''Authentic Trappist Product'' label ...

could only be brewed in a monastery. Since 1992 the beers brewed in Watou have been sold under the brand name St. Bernardus. The St. Bernardus range is considered a close match in recipe and style to the St. Sixtus beers, which can be hard to obtain outside the area.

Beers

Seven beers are sold under the St. Bernardus label: *St. Bernardus Tripel (8%

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 ...

) *St. Bernardus Extra 4 (4.8% ABV) *St. Bernardus Pater 6 (6.7% ABV) *St. Bernardus Prior 8 (8% ABV) *St. Bernardus Abt 12 (10.0% ABV) *St. Bernardus Witbier (5.5% ABV) this beer was created in collaboration with beer brewer

Pierre Celis Pierre Celis (, 21 March 1925 – 9 April 2011) was a Belgian brewer who opened his first brewery in 1966 to revive the wit beer style in his hometown of Hoegaarden. Early life Celis was born on 21 March 1925 in his family home on the edge o ...

*Watou Tripel - Belgian Tripel (7.5% ABV) *St. Bernardus Tokyo (6% ABV) *St. Bernardus Christmas Ale (10% ABV); only available during the winter Previously sold under the St. Bernardus label: *Grottenbier - Belgian Dark Ale (6.5% ABV); . Its name means 'cave beer', because the beer matures in a cave for two months. Sold from 2001 until 2014, now sold under the name "Grotten Santé" by Brewery Kazematten

References

External links

{{commonscat
St. Bernardus websiteBrouwerij St. Bernardus
brewery details from BeerTourism.com Trappist beer Breweries of Flanders Companies based in West Flanders Poperinge