The Bowsing Ken

1392 : Tongerlo Blond (Blonde)

There is a short footnote in the book "The White Canons of St. Norbert" - by Cornelius Kirkfleet (1943) - about the Abbey of Tongerlo (Abidj Tongerlo) that states: "The ancient Abbey of Tongerloo (sic) was founded in 1130, destroyed in 1796 during the French Revolution, restored in 1838, destroyed by fire in 1929, but since rebuilt." Now that's what I call a bit of tenacity - Holy Tenacity. Another period reference stated that for the Abbey "Prosperity and calamity alternated." 
It seems that back in the really olden days, wealthy people felt some sort of responsibility to sponsor various religious entities - churches, monasteries, convents, and the like. So it was for a guy named Giselbert of Kasterlee, a rather wealthy Belgian land owner, who in 1130 made a deal with the St Michael's Abbey in Antwerp to establish a monastery on his land at Tongerlo, alternatively spelled - Tongerloo. Under the initial leadership of Henry, a Norbertine priest from St Michael's, the Abbey of Tongerlo was established.

The Norbertines are followers of the teachings of Saint Norbert (Norbert of Xanten, or Norbert Van Gennep, c1080-1134), who in 1120 founded what was known as the Order of Canons Regular of Premontre, or more simply, the Premonstratensian Order. Situated near the town of Premontre, France, the Premonstratensian Order does not have monks, per se, but does have a familiar organization. In overall charge of the order is the Abbot-General, who is located at the main abbey in Premontre. As the order grew, the Abbot-General would come to eventually oversee over forty smaller abbeys within the order. Each house or abbey is under the leadership of an abbot, called alternatively a provost. Under the abbot there are the priests, who are also sometimes referred to as clerics. There are also nuns within the order, and then lesser clerics known as the Third Order. The abbey may also have a number of laybrothers and laysisters. The abovementioned Giselbert was himself a laybrother at Tongerlo.

Once established, the members of the Abbey of Tongerlo cleared large tracts of land and set up an extensive farming operation. Like many similar religious organizations, the priests within the Abbey of Tongerlo tended to the well being of the surrounding community, both spiritually and materially. They were also known as champions of education and learning, and were well known for their large, diverse library. Although I have found no direct evidence, I can only assume that the priests brewed their own beer, for their own consumption (more on this below).
The Abbey did well to weather the vagaries of local politics, changing alliances and religious turmoil, to include the coming Calvinist reform. And then came the French Revolution. On 6 December 1796, the members of the Abbey of Tongerlo were kicked out of their abbey and forced into exile. The French government dissolved the abbey's charter, confiscated the land and buildings, and sold off the whole lot. At the time the abbey was closed by the French there were 125 members - 119 priests and 6 novices - within the community, all now scattered to the four winds.
In 1830, Belgium became its own country (or at least declared it so), so the French, and later the Dutch, situation no longer remained a threat. By 1840, there were only 16 original Tongerlo priests still alive, and six of these priests returned to Tongerlo intent on restoring the abbey. On 1 July 1840, led by a priest named Peter Hubert Evermode Backx (1805-1868), who in 1839 was named the head of the newly revived order, the Abbey of Tongerlo was re-founded. By 1907, the Abbey of Tongerlo counted some 113 members of all stations within the community, and although not the largest of spiritual organizations, the Abbey of Tongerlo does have branches all around the world, including today for us North Americans, a priory in the state of Wisconsin.

One interesting aspect of the Abbey of Tongerlo is that for a time before the French Revolution the priests were counted among an organization called Bollandists. These men were engaged in the editing and updating of a work called the Acta Sanctorum, a multi-volume book that concerned itself with hagiography - the study of the life and times of the saints. Founded by Heribert Rosweyde (1569-1629) the first volume was started in the early 1600s, and was initially edited by a priest named Bolland. At times the French Government financially supported the effort. Just prior to the French Revolution, the entire Bollandist library, running to dozens of volumes, was held at the Abbey of Tongerlo. Like the priests at Tongerlo, with the coming of the French Revolution, the books of the Acta Sanctorum were also scattered, many to be hidden in attics and cellars of those who championed the work. A large portion of the collection ended up in Westphalia. Later, large portions of the work ended up in libraries, such as the Royal Library of The Hague, in the Netherlands, and in the Library of Bourgogne, in Brussels, Belgium, where they remain today. Some parts of the work were sold off while others were simply lost, possibly awaiting rediscovery today. A small number of religious scholars still work on the Acta Sanctorum today, but not to the fervor of 400 years ago.

Ok, now to the beer...

Down through the years, often depending on who possessed the area, the name of the town has had many spellings - Haeght, Haaght, Haecht - and today as Haacht. The present day municipality of Haacht, located in the province of Flemish Brabant, is actually a group of several small villages or communes, including Tildonk, Wespelaar, Kelfs and Wakkerzeel. Oddly enough, although the Haacht Brewery took its name from the town, the brewery is actually located a few miles up the road in Boortmeerbeek. Long ago it started out as a dairy farm called the Melkerij van Haecht.

Back in 1898, a man by the name of Eugene De Ro was the supervisor of the abovementioned dairy operation. He was also, by training, somewhat of an expert in the science of fermentation, and as such his interests soon turned to making beer. Around this time, pilsner beers were being brewed, in a small way, in the area, with techniques brought in from Germany and Czechoslovakia. Pilsner was a new style of beer, in the area. Mr. De Ro decided to turn a portion of the dairy in to a small brewery, his first batch being brewed on the 14th of June, 1898. Meeting with success, the operation - both brewery and dairy - became known as the Brasseris & Laiterie de Haecht - the Haecht Brewery and Dairy. Both top fermenting and in 1902, the newer - for the area - bottom fermenting varieties were produced. By 1913, the Haecht Brewery was one of the largest in all of Belgium. The dairy operation was finally closed in 1929.
Now simply called the Haacht Brewery - Brouwerij Haacht or Brasserie Haacht - the company brews both its popular pilsners and some more traditional Belgian ales, and produces such things as wine, coffee, soft drinks and mineral water. Under its current managing director, the company has also brought a number a smaller Belgian breweries into the fold, as well as firms like Brasserie Le Coq Hardi, in Lille, France and the L'île d'Orleans microbrewery in Canada. The company also manages a number of pubs.
When he began his small brewery, Mr. De Ro was still simply an employee of the dairy. Over the years, however both he and other members of his family bought out enough shares in the company to call it their own. Today, the family owns about 85% of the company, with De Ro's grandson Fréderic Van der Kelen as the managing director. A big Belgian brewery still owned by Belgians - kind of a unique concept these days.

 Tongerlo Beer

That the priests in the Abbey of Tongerlo brewed beer is almost certain, although there is not much written record of it. One source briefly mentions that the priests brewed beer up to the time of the French Revolution, began brewing again in the 1840s, and finally stopped for good during World War One, after all the copper brewing equipment was stolen. Then in 1954, Jean Van Milders, of the Geel Brewery, cut a deal with the abbey to be allowed to attach the abbey's name to the beer he was brewing. What manner of control the abbey had over the brewing of this beer in not too clear. Also not certain was whether or not Milders was using an old abbey recipe, or simply just using the name. Personally, I tend to think it was more of the latter. In any case, Milders shut his brewery down in the early 1970s, after which the name of Tongerlo was traded by a number of different concerns until it found it way in the beer portfolio of Interbrew, which at the time had also gotten a hold of the Leffe brand. The heads of Interbrew decided to go with only one "abbey" beer and opted to retain Leffe, selling the rights to Tongerlo to the folks over at the Haacht Brewery in 1990.
That same year, the brewers at the Haacht Brewery began to meet with the Norbertine priests at the nearby Abbey of Tongerlo, who happened to still have their own recipe for making beer. This would indicate that the priests did, indeed, brew their own beer at some time in their history. An agreement was thus made, allowing the Haacht Brewery to use the recipe and to call their Tongerlo beers true recognized abbey beers. Over the next few years, the brewmasters at Haacht have tweaked the recipes into what we enjoy today.

 The only variety of Tongerlo I have had the pleasure to sample is the Tongerlo Blond (Blonde), which I had while working over in the Netherlands. It is described as a top fermented beer, with a re-fermentation in the bottle. It’s darn good, and I wish they - Haacht Brewery - would ship a few cases over the pond.

For more information on what it means to be a recognized Belgian abbey beer, please refer to the article on the opening page of The Belgian Beer Journey - Click Here for the link. Cheers!