St. Bernardus

St. Bernardus about

St. Bernardus is a brewery from Belgium. Originally, the monks were based in Mont des Cats in Godewaersvelde (France), but the anti-clerical policies in France in the late 19th century forced them to move to Watou (Belgium), a few km away from the original. There they opened the Abbey of Notre Dame de St. Bernard, and started producing trappist cheese.

In 1934, as the attitude towards monks in France improved, they came back to their original location, selling their cheese factory. After the WWII, other trappist monastery, St. Sixtus in Westvleteren gave a license to the cheesefactory in order to commercialize their beers. This marked the foundation of brewery St. Bernard, hiring the brewmaster from Westvleteren, Mathieu Szafranski, who brought the recipes and yeast strain from St. Sixtus.

The beers were sold under different names, Trappist Westvleteren, St. Sixtus or Sixtus, until the license came to an end in 1992. But the recipes and know how remained, and since them the beer is sold under the name St. Bernardus.

Other trappist breweries:
– Rochefort
– Orval
– Westmalle