Job: An article about the famous beer, St. Bernardus.

St. Bernardus:

Quality Produced In Beauty

About a famous Belgian beer

If you ever want to make a journey through the beautiful, picturesque countryside of Belgium and you plan to visit some of the nicest hamlets around, stop at Watou, a tiny village right near the border of France.

People consider this town with no more than 1900 inhabitants as one of the most beautiful towns of Belgium and it has a reputation for its peace and serene surroundings. But that’s not all.

For beer lovers there is another compelling reason to visit Watou, for as small as it is, this town is the center of two famous beer breweries and one of them produces the world famous Belgian beer, St. Bernardus.

Since 1946, the brewery has been producing both dark and blond abbey ale, which you should definitely try if you haven’t already. The ales that are produced here are of superior quality and are only made with the brewery’s own yeast, high-quality malts and hops that are grown in the fields near the brewery. Right after the Second World War, the monks of the abbey of Westvleteren made the decision to commercialize their beer and set up a new brewery in 1946.

Before 1946 the monks were busy brewing beer within the monastery and sold it to the surrounding area, but the Abbot of Westvleteren felt his monks were spending too much time making beer, while forgetting their religious duties (who knows, maybe they were drinking a bit too much of their speciality as well) and felt it was time to return to their first love.

This created a problem, as the beer the monks produced had become so popular in the surrounding region and the demand for it was so high, that it was virtually impossible to stop the producƟon. Thus, it was decided to produce the beer outside of the monastery in a regular brewery. The
monastery made a deal with the Master Brewer of Westvleteren, who not only used his vast knowledge of quality beer production, but he also introduced the use of a special yeast, St. Sixtus.

Because of the yeast, the monks produced the beer under the name St. Sixtus Beer and it became very popular all over Belgium.

The monks themselves still produced a small quantity within the walls of the monastery, but only did so for three local taverns. In 1992 the situation changed and the name of the beer changed into St. Bernardus, the name it still carries today, although the beer is identical to the original St. Sixtus.

Why the change of name?
Until 1992, they sold the beer as a regular Trappist beer, but after 1992, they could no longer do that. Trappist Beer is beer that is made within the walls of an Abby and not in a brewery. Only five places in Belgium and one in the Netherlands have the authority to produce beer that can be sold as Trappist Beer. Thus the brewery changed the name to St. Bernardus, which is now called abbey ale. But this hasn’t stopped the beer from growing into one of Belgium’s most famous beers around the world and the brewery is now producing a wide range of different ale, all with a different alcohol level.

The strongest beer that the brewery is making is St. Bernardus Abt 12. This beer made it even to fourth position on the list of best beers in the world, a list set up by the well-known site beeradvocate.com.

St. Bernardus Abt 12 is a tasty malt beer that, according to experts is unequalled in taste and quality compared to most known beers. This ale contains about 10, 5% percent alcohol and is best drunk in combination with eating some fabulous cheese.

One beer enthusiast explained his love for St. Bernardus Abt 12 as follows: “If the good Lord himself decided it was time to brew some good beer, no doubt he would produce something like St. Bernardus 12, after which He too would take His time to sit back for a moment and enjoy it to the full.” *

The brewery in Watou produces many more worthwhile beers, including St. Bernardus Extra (8% ABV), St. Bernardus Witbeer (5.5% ABV), and St.Bernardus Extra (8% ABV), St. Bernardus Witbeer (5.5% ABV) and St. Bernardus Christmas Ale (10% ABV) which is only available during winter It is advised to not drink these beers too cold as this hinders the full enjoyment of the rich taste.

*www.bierenzo.nl/st-bernardus-ab