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| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1884 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Beer |
Production output | 145,000 hL |
De Koningshoeven Brewery (Brouwerij de Koningshoeven) is a Dutch Trappist brewery founded in 1884 within the walls of Koningshoeven Abbey in Berkel-Enschot (near Tilburg).
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2011) |
In 1884, the abbey opened a brewery inside the monastery in order to finance the monastery and contribute to charitable causes. Despite this goal, the brewery was run as a commercial enterprise. The abbey owned several bars in the area and produced lager under its own "Trappist" brand as well as contract brewing for several private labels. In 1969, the abbey licensed the brewing operations to the Artois Brewery (now InBev). In 1980 the deal with Artois ended, and the monks went back to brewing themselves, this time a top fermented beer which had only been made in limited quantities since the 1950s. Over time the brewery introduced more varieties, first with Dubbel and Tripel in 1987, then in 1992 they introduced Blond. [1] Between 1993 and 2000, the brewery also marketed a brand called Enkel. The brewery also produces the world's only Trappist witbier. The brewery also used to produce the Jopen beer.
The brewery started exporting in 1985, and in 1989 the brewery was modernised. [1]
From 1980 until 1999, the brewery was largely run by the monks. Due to the difficulty of the ageing monks continuing to operate the brewery, a limited liability company was set up as a subsidiary of the large commercial brewer, Bavaria. In 1999 the new company began to take over day-to-day operations, renting the buildings and equipment from the abbey.
As a result of this agreement, a dispute arose with the International Trappist Association , the body that governs the labelling of goods as Trappist. They claimed that this new method of operation was against the regulations that permitted the beer to display the Authentic Trappist Product logo. Whilst the beer continued to be brewed within the abbey walls, the arrangement with Bavaria was felt to be too commercialised. As a result, the brewery withdrew their use of the logo on 1 December 1999. However, the brewery continued to label the beer as Trappistenbier.
After a lengthy study by all parties, and a review of the agreement between the abbey and brewery, the beers were granted the right to display the logo again as of September 9, 2005. As part of this settlement, the monks have taken a more active control of the brewery day-to-day operations, working several hours each day. [2]
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Of the twelve trappist breweries, this brewery is currently operated by De Koningshoeven NV, a subsidiary of the Bavaria Brewery, but the buildings and equipment are owned by the abbey. The monks of the abbey are the ultimate authority on the brewing process. However, the secular company runs the business operations. The abbey also houses a bar and shop/museum, the latter of which is staffed by a monk.
At times, the brewery has allowed its spare capacity to be used for brewing of other beers. Wieckse Witte and Chimay have at one stage been brewed in the abbey.
As with all other Trappist breweries, the brewery exists in order to finance the monastery, not for profit or any other commercial reason.
Originally the brewery was called De Schaapskooi, and this name is still used casually especially around the region.
The beers and the brewery are usually marketed under the name La Trappe. However, in some markets, such as the United States, the Koningshoeven name was used until 2010. [3] It is one of five producers of Trappist beer outside Belgium, and produces four regular and two seasonal beers:
Apart from the La Trappe brand, the brewery produces Tilburg's Dutch Brown Ale mainly for export.
The water for the beer is drawn from five 200-metre deep wells on the abbey grounds, and all beers except the Blond are bottle conditioned. The spent grain remaining after the wort is filtered from the mash is used to feed the abbey's own herd of cows.
Originally there was an Enkel which was the monk's table beer, [6] but it was replaced by Blond in the range.
Royal Swinkels Family Brewers is a family business from North Brabant in the Netherlands, that is active in the beer, soft drink and malt sector. The company is fully owned by the Swinkels family for seven generations. The head office is located in Lieshout and there are subsidiaries in twelve countries.
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 is assigned by the International Trappist Association (ITA) to just ten breweries which meet their strict criteria. As of 2021, Achel is no longer recognized as a Trappist brewery because it does not have any living monks.
Chimay Brewery is a brewery at Scourmont Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Chimay, Hainaut, Belgium, one of the thirteen breweries worldwide that produce Trappist beer. They make four ales: Chimay Rouge, Chimay Bleue, Chimay Blanche, and Chimay 150; and one patersbier for the monks. The monastery also makes four varieties of cheese.
Westmalle Brewery is a Trappist brewery in the Westmalle Abbey, Belgium. It produces three beers, designated as Trappist beer by the International Trappist Association. Westmalle Tripel is credited with being the first golden strong pale ale to use the term Tripel.
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Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and stouts. In 2018, there were 304 breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries, such as Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 litres of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The term dubbel is a Belgian Trappist beer naming convention. The origin of the dubbel was a strong version of a brown beer brewed in Westmalle Abbey in 1856, which is known to have been on sale to the public by June 1861. In 1926, the recipe was changed, and it was sold as Dubbel Bruin. Following World War Two, abbey beers became popular in Belgium and the name "dubbel" was used by several breweries for commercial purposes.
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.
Brewery Ommegang is a brewery located near Cooperstown, New York, United States, that specializes in Belgian-style ales.
Beer in the Netherlands mostly comprises pale lagers like Heineken and Grolsch. Heineken is the world's second-largest brewer.
A Quadrupel is a type of beer, with an alcohol by volume of 9.1% to 14.2%.
Jopen is a beer brewery from Haarlem, Netherlands. Jopen's beer is a result of the work of Stichting Haarlems Biergenootschap, which was founded in 1992. The mission of the Biergenootschap is to re-create traditional Haarlem beers and bring them to the commercial market. Two recipes were found in the Haarlem city archives that were used as a foundation for two initial beers. The first one was a recipe from 1407; the recreation of this was named Koyt, a gruit beer.
St. Bernardus is a brewery in Watou, Belgium.
Alvinne is a small brewery in the hamlet of Moen near the Belgian city of Zwevegem, founded in 2002.
The Smisje Brewery, with a tiny production of only 200 hectoliters per year, is one of the smallest existing Belgian craft breweries. Begun in 1995 by former printer and homebrewer Johan Brandt, it was originally titled "De Regenboog", the same name as his earlier printing business. Brandt is also a bee-keeper, which accounts for the prominent use of honey in some of the brewery's offerings, including its first commercial beer, which was named 't Smisje or "the little blacksmith" to reflect the hand-crafted nature of the product as well as a local landmark blacksmith's house near the brewery's original location.
Brasserie de Brunehaut is the trade name for Brunehaut brewery, located in Rongy-Brunehaut (Hainaut), Wallonia, 80 km south/southwest of Brussels, Belgium, near the French border.
Tripel is a term used by brewers mainly in the Low Countries, some other European countries, and the U.S. to describe a strong pale ale, loosely in the style of Westmalle Tripel. The origin of the term is unknown, though the main theory is that it indicates strength in some way. It was used in 1956 by the Trappist brewery, Westmalle, to rename the strongest beer in their range, though both the term Tripel and the style of beer associated with the name, were in existence before 1956. The style of Westmalle's Tripel and the name was widely copied by the breweries of Belgium, and in 1987 another Trappist brewery, the Koningshoeven in the Netherlands, expanded their range with a beer called La Trappe Tripel, though they also produced a stronger beer they termed La Trappe Quadrupel. The term spread to the U.S. and other countries, and is applied by a range of secular brewers to a strong pale ale in the style of Westmalle Tripel.
Koningshoeven Abbey is a monastery of the Trappists founded in 1881 in Berkel-Enschot in North Brabant, the Netherlands.
