All ales we produce are highly fermented ales. This means the ale is being fermented on a temperature between 18° and 30°. This causes the production of more aromacomponents then in beers of low fermentation which leads to a richer and taste and aroma. Exceptions are the Kriek and the Cuvee who are ales of mixed fermentation. This means they combine the high fermentation and acidification of Flemish red-brown ales with the wild fermentation trough blending the ale with Lambic from the Pajottenland-region.
The brewing is based on infusion for the mash and direct fire is used for the boiling. The traditional methods all Belgian brewers used before for the introduction of pilsner beers at the beginning of the 20th century.
We don’t filter or centrifuge our ales during the brewing process. Filtering or centrifuging makes the ale clear but it also filters out many taste components. We clear our ales in a natural way trough longer lagering.
Pasteurisation is a technique often used to make sure the taste of a beer doesn’t change anymore after sending it out. Disadvantage is that, like with filtering and centrifuging, part of the taste goes lost. We want to keep the taste intact until it’s reaches the consumer so we never pasteurize our beers during the brewing process.
In the past, only hop flowers where used to give taste to beer. In the same manner as wine get’s its taste from the kind op grapes that are used to make it, beer get’s its taste from the kind of hops that are used to make it. But there are some disadvantages to the use of hop flowers:
For all these reasons, only very few breweries still use hop flowers in the
production of their beers. Hop extracts are easier, cheaper, can be kept longer
and don’t bring as much as cleaning with them as hop flowers.
But as we aim for the highest quality possible, we use high quality hop flowers
from the Poperinge-region for all of our beers. An extra is that hop flowers
give a texture and complexity to the beer, that can’t be matched by beers
made with extracts. The two hop varieties we use most are Hallertau Mittelfruh
and Brewers Gold although Challenger and Saaz are used as well.
Beer is a living product! By adding a little bit of new sugar and yeast while
bottling and the keeping the beer warm for 2 weeks after the bottling, we start
a refermentation in the bottle.
Because of this a natural saturation of CO2 gives the beer a nice, foamy head.
This method, also used for the production of champagne, gives a finer texture
to the foam then artificially saturated beers (ales without refermentation in
the bottle). Also the beer, because it’s still alive, can be kept much
longer and get’s a natural taste evolution in the bottle. This way, the
time you taste the beer and the conditions the bottles are kept under will influence
the taste.
A small yeast residue shows that we use this technique for all of our ales.
It’s up to the consumer tot decide whether to pour this residue (which
contains loads of vitamins and minerals) with the beer.
The original method for producing fruit beers is nearly always based on the fermentation of sour cherries (type north cherry) on beer that has already been acidified. This can be done by adding Lambic or by exposing the beer to small amounts of air, as it is done by keeping the beer in wooden barrels for red and old, brown ales. For our Kriek, both methods are being used. First acidification by exposing the beer to air, and after the fermentation with cherries by mixing the beer with Lambic from Brussels. For the Cuvee the same process is being used, but without adding the cherries to the beer.