Region & History

Where the Sambre and Meuse rivers meet at Namur, a landscape of limestone hills, river valleys, and dark forests begins, stretching south into the Ardennes. Brewing has taken place here for centuries, in monasteries and on farms alike. According to a tourism portal, the province of Namur is today home to 28 active breweries.

The Abbey of Leffe near Dinant on the Meuse was founded by Premonstratensian canons in 1152. In 1240, a property deal brought a brewery into their possession, and beer has been documented there ever since. Today the Leffe brand belongs to AB InBev and is brewed in Leuven, with the abbey receiving licensing fees in return. Leffe is therefore an abbey beer, but not a Trappist beer.

The situation is different in Rochefort. The monastery of Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy was founded in 1230, and the first written references to brewing date from 1595. In 1794 both abbey and brewery were closed, Trappist monks returned in 1887, and brewing resumed in 1899. The "Authentic Trappist Product" logo from the International Trappist Association is granted only to beers brewed within monastery walls under monastic supervision, with proceeds going to the monastery and charitable causes. It speaks to origin, not to style.

The other two major names in the region are secular and more recent. Brasserie du Bocq in Purnode near Yvoir traces back to the farmer Martin Belot, who began brewing in the outbuildings of his farm in 1858, and remains a family-run brewery to this day. Brasserie d'Achouffe in the Ardennes village of Achouffe was founded in 1982, when Chris Bauweraerts and his brother-in-law Pierre Gobron brewed their first 49 liters in a former pigsty. In 2006 they sold the brewery to Duvel Moortgat.