Description

St. Bernardus is a Belgian brewery in the West Flanders town of Poperinge; it is located in Watou Township. The brewery is a member of the Belgian Family Brewers. In 2012, 33,000 hl of beer were brewed. Shortly after the Second World War, Evariste Deconinck was asked by the Trappists of Westvleteren to commercialize and brew their Trappist beers under license. The original license agreement was signed for a period of 30 years. The master brewer Mathieu Szafranski (of Polish descent) went along with them and, in addition to the know-how, also brought the recipes and the famous St.Sixtus yeast with him. A new brewery was built next to the cheese dairy. In 1959 the dairy was sold or at least the plant and the brand name were given to the St. Bertinus dairy in Poperinge, which later became part of the Elvapo Group. In 1986 Belgomilk took over these activities. The husband of Bernadette Deconinck (daughter of Evariste), Guy Claus, in the brewery and with the Westvleteren Abbey were renegotiating the extension of the license agreement. This happened in 1962 for a new period of 30 years, i.e. until 1992.