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.

History

The brewery's history dates directly to 1096 in Tournai, and a time of severe medieval famine, locally remembered as part of "the great plague". Beer was already known as a safe alternative to impure local water supplies and the local community needed help to avoid starvation. To promote public health, and compensate for minimal humanitarian support from Rome, Benedictine Bishop Radbod included brewing permissions in the charter to re-establish Abbaye de Saint-Martin. Brewing thrived at Abbaye de Saint-Martin without significant interruption until 1793 when, during the French Revolution, most abbey structures, including the church sanctuary and brewery were destroyed. Only the mid-18th century Abbot palace, parts of the 14th century Gothic cloister and a Romanesque, 13th century crypt survived. Many important abbey documents, including Saint-Martin's "secret" brewing recipes, were successfully hidden from revolutionary plunder. In 1890, during Belgium's post-Industrial Revolution prosperity, these recipes enabled resumption of Abbaye de Saint-Martin brewing by Brasserie de Bruenhaut. More than forty individual Brunehaut beers were brewed during the next century and, in 1990, output capacity doubled, via construction of a new, purpose-built fermentation house, two kilometers distance from the 1890 brewery site. During February 2021, following two years of documentation, Brunehaut was certified as the first B Corp brewery in the European Union. Abbaye de Saint-Martin labels still remain among 18x Belgian beers to maintain official "Certified Belgian Abbaye Beer" status.

Production, styles & labels

An artisanal brewer, Brunehaut employs ancient Belgian brewing recipes, dating from the First Crusade and documented from 1096. Combining top (in-bottle) fermentation with modern production methods, brewmaster Damien Delneste's signature Brunehaut Gluten-free, organic beers have earned Belgian Certisys organic certification (BE-BIO-01). Certified at <5ppm gluten-free, and verified as kosher and vegan-friendly, the brewery grows their own barley and wheat within local terroir at Domaine de Graux. Consistent with these eco-conscious, organic brewing practices, beer production is powered by rooftop solar arrays.

Gluten-Free, organic style beers

A 2006 ownership change tightened the brewery's market focus and expanded export markets. Seven products were retired and new packaging labels commissioned. Brunehaut ships eleven labels across four continents, to more than twenty countries. Brewed as under 1000+-year-old Belgian brewing tradition, these beer styles feature Abbaye de Saint-Martin Dubbel and Tripel bottle-conditioned ales, both Certified Belgian Abbaye Beers.

Abbaye style beers

Regional style beers

21st Century discontinued labels

Awards

Packaging, festivals and social media

Brunehaut Brewery ships bottled products in either "capped" 33cl or "corked" 75cl bottles across Europe, Asia, North and South America. Brunehaut draught beer is traditionally distributed in 20-liter kegs. In 2008 however, Brunehaut became the first European brewer to offer recyclable, lightweight 30-liter EcoKegs as an export alternative to negative environmental impacts of non-reused or un-recycled beer bottles. Brasserie de Brunehaut is a member of Belgian Brewers, one of the world's oldest professional associations, and participates in many annual Belgian beer festivals including Zythos Bierfestival, Brussels Beer Weekend, Brugs Bierfestival, and Essen's Christmas Beer Festival. Brunehaut Brewery engages publicly on multiple social media channels including Twitter and Facebook.