Tap Handle #785: Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck

November 07, 2021

Tap Handle #785: Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck - Bacchus Flemish Old Brown

Tap size: 10.5"

Rarity: 10 or less seen, import

Mounting: 3/8" ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

There is a beautiful simplicity in the design of this Bacchus tap: a bottle sitting on top of a barrel. The top resembles a wine bottle and reflects the wine-like taste of the beer, while the barrel on the bottom represents the oak casks that the beer is matured in. The label on the bottle states "Bacchus Belgian beer" and "Flemish Old Brown", and pictures a man holding a beer...that picture is a classic and traditional Flemish image. The barrel also has a decal that reads "Flemish Old Brown". There is no actual front or back of the tap, so I'll just say that these labels and decals appear on opposite sides of the tap, and since they appear identical, I've reduced the number of photos taken. This tap first appeared on the secondary market in 2016, about the time the Van Honsebrouck family completed their new brewery in Emelgem, which makes sense that they would have commissioned new taps during that time. However, only 2 others have appeared since then, while the brewery's figural Kasteel taps have popped up numerous times. Therefore I suspect that these Bacchus taps were made in very small quantities. The price of the Bacchus tap, when it has appeared, has been very affordable - less than $40.

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck traces its origins back to Werken, Belgium in the mid-1800's by Amandus Van Honsebrouck. Amandus was a farmer and became mayor of Werken while founding his brewery. After passing away suddenly in 1865, his 21 year old son Emile took over the farm and brewery, and later he also became mayor of Werken. In 1900, Emile Van Honsebrouck moved to Ingelmunster, the birth village of his wife, Louise. There they founded the Sint-Jozef brewery. Louise was the driving force behind running the brewery until 1922. At that point Emile's and Louise's sons Paul and Ernest took over ownership, and they began to expand the brewing storage and capacity with addition of a new malt house and foeder room in 1930, and a new brewing room, fermentation room, tank room and bottling plant in 1939.

Ernest had never married, and when Paul’s health started to suffer, Paul's eldest son Luc put forward a proposition: Luc promised to gain his brewer’s qualifications to ensure the continuation of the brewery. In 1953, Luc went to brewery school and completed apprenticeships in Wallonia and Germany. He then took over the brewery, which at the time was producing a brown table beer, an export beer, a pils, and an old brown. He decided to break with tradition by concentrating on specialty beers rather than trying to compete with the large pilsner breweries, and had great success with this strategy. In 1954, he increased production of an old Flemish brown he named Bacchus due to its wine-like taste (the Roman god Bacchus was the god of wine, inebriation and general drunkenness). In 1955, Luc renamed the brewery to Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck.

In 1958, the brewery began buying wort from Van Haelen Fréres in Uccle to produce what they called a gueuze, or a type of lambic, that Luc branded "St. Louis", and he followed that up by producing kriek (cherry) and framboise (raspberry) beers. Luc took issue with whoever had created the geographic border typically recognized by lambic producers, as well the Royal Decree of 1965, which sought to protect lambic against counterfeiting. It stated a geographical boundary of 20km around Brussels as the defined area for lambic production. Luc appealed against the Royal Decree and won, stating that he would be unable to sell gueuze if it couldn't successfully produced at his brewery, which of course was not the case, as Luc's gueuze was quite popular. In fact, by 1969, Van Honsebrouck had become the second largest gueuze producer in Belgium behind Belle-Vue.

In 1986, the Van Honsebrouck family bought the Ingelmunster Castle, a famous fortress that now also graces the brewery’s logo. Once the stronghold of the Count of Flanders, Robrecht de Fries, the castle was converted into a luxurious country mansion in 1736. In 1989, inspired by the Castle, the brewery launched their first Kasteel ("Castle") beer, Kasteelbier Donker, which was not spontaneously fermented. In 1995, the Kasteel line was expanded to include a Tripel, in 2007 with Kasteel Rouge, and in 2008 with a Blonde. After 55 years, at age 78, Luc decided that it was time to retire, so in 2009, Luc’s son Xavier took over the Van Honsebrouck family brewery, becoming the 5th generation owner. Xavier invested in a brand new brewery in the nearby village of Emelgem (in Izegem) that became fully operational in 2016, with a brewing capacity of 25,000,000 litres (twice the capacity of Ingelmunster).

The new Izegem brewery, located on a 7.5-acre site of a former furniture factory, was in fact several breweries under one roof, equipped with state-of-the-art technology for the production of top-fermented beers (Brigand, Kasteel, Filou, Slurfke), spontaneously fermented beers (the St. Louis line), and beers of mixed fermentation (like Bacchus). The site also included an integrated visitor center and a micro-brewery where new beers could be developed. The brewery now offers a range of close to 30 different beers. Xavier has four children (two sets of twins!), so the next generation of this Belgian brewing dynasty from West Flanders is in place. Currently, one of the daughters, Michelle, is already partly running the successful brasserie.

Brouwerij Van Honsebrouck's Bacchus Flemish Old Brown surprises with a taste reminiscent of wine (it is matured in oak casks), and offers a beautiful balance between sweet and sour. This beer impresses through both its sourness and the slight touch of caramel brought by the roasted malt. However, its sourness is less pronounced than the sourness of other Flemish red-brown beers. Therefore, Bacchus Flemish Old Brown is a very refreshing beer with a pleasant aftertaste. Although the "old brown" beer style is down in popularity, with quite a few breweries that produced this style having closed, Bacchus remains an important pillar supporting the range of beers offered by Castle Brewery Van Honsebrouck. It is produced all year long but may be difficult to track down.