When Grimbergen restarted

A look at less known stories of Grimbergen and Bayard beers.

Grimbergen has a remarkable past. After more than 200 years the abbey has started again in 2019 brewing beer since it was ransacked by the French in 1795. The brewers have reviewed 12th-century books detailing the original monks’ brewing methods.
The discovery of books detailing the original monks’ brewing methods has become a source of inspiration for the new microbrewery. The recipes were saved before the monastery was set alight in the 18th century — a group of quick-thinking fathers secretly removed the books from inside a library wall and put them into safe keeping.
“We had the books with the old recipes, but nobody could read them,” explained Father Stautemas. “It was all in old Latin and old Dutch. So the monks brought in volunteers.  They spent hours leafing through the books and have discovered ingredient lists for beers brewed in previous centuries, the hops used, the types of barrels and bottles, and even a list of the actual beers produced centuries ago.Grimbergen’s monks will follow the rules of Belgium’s Trappist beer makers, even if they are not a Trappist order, requiring them to brew within the abbey walls, control the brewing and steer profits toward maintaining the abbey and supporting charitable causes.
The abbey was founded in 1128 and has been tied to commercial brewers since the 1950s when local brewer Maes asked the monks to use the Grimbergen name and emblem on its “abbey beer”.

Here the full story dated 22 May 2019: “Grimbergen monks are brewing beer again — and at 10.8pc ABV”.

You will find their beer in my beer bottles collection.

My Grimbergen

So is Grimbergen a Trappist beer? Not officially, it is still an “abbey beer” according to the International Trappist Association recognized breweries.

The story of Bayard beer

My father was a specialist in repairing flooded cellars and his job got him some unique beer glasses. One I have and cherish is the beautiful real crystal glass of Bayard.

After some digging I found quite a lot of information about my mysterious beer glass.
The Brewery Bayard was a brewery in Dendermonde (Flanders) and operated between 1923 and 1955. In 2000 I got the details from Sofie De Veirman, Coordinator of “Erfgoedcel Land van Dendermonde”, with their former website (www.egclandvandendermonde.be), now closed and taken over by this new website “Dijk92 is jouw regionaal cultuur- en erfgoedplatform”.

I managed to find the new links to the publication BIER VAN HIER – by André Delcart (PDF 120 pages), You can download the full publication here Bier-Van-Hier

See the pictures above and also the introduction in Dutch below.
BIER VAN HIER: 300 jaar brouwerijen in het Land van Dendermonde
Een geschiedenis in een notendop
 “Op 1 december 2017 verscheen het boek ‘Bier van hier. 300 jaar brouwerijen in het Land van Dendermonde’. De erfgoedcel werkte hiervoor samen met lokale erfgoedverenigingen, privéverzamelaars en André Delcart, specialist in voeding en streekproducten.”

Other links with much less information::
“De Brouwerij Bayard nv is een voormalige brouwerij in het Belgische Dendermonde en was actief tussen 1923 en 1955.”
and
Brouwerij Bayard was een bierbrouwerij uit Dendermonde (België).