The splendid Rodenbach brewery at Roeselare now has a modern brewing plant installed to make the brown ales that fill its famous oak tuns. And the good news is that its capacity far outstrips the current storage, allowing owners Palm the option to increase capacity if the demand for oak-aged ales increases.

The Guide’s updated entry reads:

RODENBACH
NV Brouwerij Rodenbach
Spanjestraat 133-141
8800 Roeselare
T 051 22 34 00
E webmaster@rodenbach.be
www.rodenbach.be

One of the world’s most unusual beer-making operations. One of the few to be able to claim that it has succeeded in preserving and promoting a classical old beer style. Founded in 1836 at Roeselare in central West Flanders and since 1998 part of the Palm group. The Rodenbach thumbprint over the years has been that a proportion of the beer will, after primary fermentation, be racked into one of the three hundred oak tuns (Du: foederen; Fr: foudres) where they will condition for up to two years. These are then blended in different proportions with fresh beer to make different versions of the brand. Soon after the takeover the brewhouse was closed and parts of the site were converted to a conference centre. Skeptics, including the Guide, saw this as an inevitable move towards mainstreaming and marginalisation of what had been a magnificent tradition of oak-aged beer manufacture. However, to their eternal credit Palm ploughed a considerable amount of money into a major clean up and sort out of the three hundred and more massive tuns and then replaced the brewhouse with a smaller state-of-the art version. They also re-organised the product range. Regular Rodenbach remains a slightly off-beat brown ale made by blending a small quantity of oak-aged ale into a freshly brewed batch. Old-timers go into hypertensive crisis over Redbach, though we think it could be a whole lot worse. The classic product is without doubt Rodenbach Grand Cru, which although a slightly sweeter beer than it was before the renovations, has regained its old tang and is back in the Premier Division of the world league. What will be interesting to see what happens with the availability of Foederbier, the sharp, ultra-dry draught taken straight from the tuns and currently only available in one café in the brewery’s home town (see West Flanders: Brewery cafés). Group visits all year round by arrangement. Individual visits in summer (see Beer Tourism).

Annual output: 20,000-100,000 hl per annum.

Regular beers:
Redbach (3.5%: ***)
Dilute Rodenbach mixed with Boon Kriek and sold in American bottles for youngsters.

Rodenbach (5%: ***)
The oak-aged beer blended with the ordinary brown ale approximate one part to three.

Rodenbach Grand Cru (6%: ****/*)
We think that Grand Cru is now a blend of the oak-aged beer with some younger beer, though it remains a beautifully tangy drink and strangely has regained some of its old swagger.

Oud Belegen Foederbier (?%)
Shortly before we went to press we became aware of what claims to be a draught beer drawn directly from the oak tuns. Approving reports have already been received describing it as dry and interesting.