Update
Magnum 2024
Since 2012, we have produced a limited number of 1.5-litre Magnum bottles each year. These special dark brown St.Bernardus Magnum bottles are filled with our Abt 12 and feature a raised brewery logo in relief, ‘Bière Belge’ neck, a personalised cork, and a unique muselet. We also commission artists to design each label. All the artworks become part of our brewery’s art collection and can subsequently be admired in our brewery shop.
Rough, unpolished and unconventional, that’s probably the best way to describe the universe of the French-Belgian artist Kalbut. From a sustainable philosophy, he creates - with a large variety of recycled materials - new sculptures that are often linked to the rich animalistic world. ‘Full Metal Bernard’ is his distinctive interpretation of our St.Bernardus.
St.Bernardus Day
On Tuesday, August 20, we celebrate 'St.Bernardus Day'. Maybe the perfect moment to meet up with friends, colleagues or family and enjoy a glass of Heavenly Nectar together? Don't forget to capture your St.Bernardus moment with a selfie or photo, accompanied by the hashtag #stbernardusday ;-)
Do you run a bar yourself? Do you wish to organise something on St.Bernardus Day? Through the link below you can find artwork and visuals for both online and offline purposes.
Braupakt
Our first collab beer!
Brouwerij St.Bernardus has been the official importer in Belgium for the Weihenstephan brewery for almost ten years now. This German brewery is established in Freising, Bavaria. Just like St.Bernardus, it upholds a philosophy with regard to brewing that places an emphasis on tradition and innovation.
In 2018, Weihenstephan collaborated with the Californian beer pioneers of the Sierra Nevada on the creation of their first ‘collab’ ever, which they named ‘Braupakt’. Now, six years later, ‘Braupakt’ is given a new chapter thanks to the German brewer’s collaboration with St.Bernardus.
The idea behind this joining of forces was to brew a strong, filtered top-fermented beer. This combination of two brewing philosophies, each with its own specific DNA, resulted in a truly unique beer. Only the best raw materials were sourced from each country: hop from the Poperinge region, Weihenstephan’s unique yeast, Bavarian malt and water from Freising. Just like all other German beers, this beer was brewed according to the ‘Reinheitsgebot’*.
The product of Braupakt 2024 is a strong, top-fermented blond beer with an ABV of 6.5% and a deep golden body, an outspoken fruity taste and a typical hint of yeast. Its spherical glass reflects the beer’s Belgian characteristics and allows the various aromas to be savoured even more intensely. In other words: this is an exceptionally elegant and stylish beer!
* This literally means ‘purity law’. It means that beer may only be brewed from water, hops, malt and yeast – and no other ingredients. This law dates back to the 16th century, with three objectives in mind: to protect consumers from rising prices, to prohibit the use of wheat so that more bread could be produced, and to prevent unscrupulous brewers from adding toxic ingredients to their beer as conservatives or flavouring agents. It is the oldest food safety law in the world. Today, it is synonymous with the quality mark of a Bavarian beer!
World Beer Awards 2023
At the annual World Beer Awards, an international jury judges by means of blind taste more than 2000 beers in different categories. Since our first participation in 2019, our beers have always won beautiful places of honor. Also this year, several St.Bernardus beers were rewarded with so-called medals!
St.Bernardus Prior 8 won the gold medal in the 'Belgian Style Double' category, St.Bernardus Abt 12 won a silver medal in the 'Belgian Style Strong' category and St.Bernardus Tripel won bronze in the 'Belgian Style Tripel' category.
Magnum 2023
Since 2012, we have produced a limited number of 1.5-litre Magnum bottles each year. These special dark brown St.Bernardus Magnum bottles are filled with our Abt 12 and feature a raised brewery logo in relief, ‘Bière Belge’ neck, a personalised cork, and a unique muselet. We also commission artists to design each label. All the artworks become part of our brewery’s art collection and can subsequently be admired in our brewery shop.
Hervé Martijn is a Belgian painter who is constantly in search of a subdued, hermetic atmosphere in his work. The subjects of his portraits often give the impression of being loners; people who have closed themselves off, as it were, from the reality of the world around them. A strongly detailed chiaroscuro approach and theatrical staging are typical elements of Martijn’s style.
The source of inspiration for 'White Pigeon in Black' was the Alveringem-born composer, pianist and singer Katrien Verfaillie (formerly ‘Pigeon on Piano’). Just like the painting, her characteristic musical style on the piano hovers between introspection and subtlety.
World Beer Awards 2022
At the annual World Beer Awards, an international jury judges by means of blind taste more than 2000 beers in different categories. Since our first participation in 2019, our beers have always won beautiful places of honor. Also this year, several St.Bernardus beers were rewarded with so-called medals!
Just like in 2019 and 2020, St.Bernardus Tripel was named laureate in the category 'Belgian Style Tripel', in other words a gold medal.
St.Bernardus Prior 8 was already voted 'World's Best Dark Belgian Style Dubbel' in 2019, in short, the world's best Dubbel beer. This year too, Prior 8 was awarded a bronze medal in the 'Belgian Style Double' category.
In the 'Belgian Style Witbier' category, St.Bernardus Wit can show off a silver medal. This honor also fell to our Wit in 2019.
Limited edition '75 years anniversary'
St.Bernardus ‘75 Years Anniversary’ is the final element in our celebration of our brewery’s 75th anniversary. In honour of the occasion, our brewers have created a festive ‘tripel style’ birthday beer. This beer will be sold in an extremely limited edition of 11,000 bottles, and only as 75cl. Every bottle is marked with its own, unique number!
Colour
A rich golden beer with an ample, but elegant head of foam.
Character, flavour, aromas
‘75 Years Anniversary’ definitely shares all the typical traits of a St.Bernardus: Watou’s groundwater gives it a lovely briny tang, quality malts ensure a pleasantly full mouthfeel with notes of brown sugar and nougat, and the unique yeast makes for a refreshingly fruity aroma reminiscent of fruits such as banana, red apple and pear. A balanced finish is complemented nicely by the refined bitterness of the hops.
Culinary
This festive birthday beer is a delicious accompaniment to a seafood salad, hearty grilled meats, or a poultry stew with plenty of vegetables. Of course, it is also worth savouring as a pre-dinner drink or to round things off, with a nice bit of St.Bernardus cheese!
Magnum 2022
Our St.Bernardus Abt 12 Magnum celebrates its crystal anniversary in 2022. In several ways, this 2022 version crowns a tradition that first began in 2012.
Since 2012, we have produced a limited number of 1.5-litre Magnum bottles each year. These special dark brown St.Bernardus Magnum bottles are filled with our Abt 12 and feature a raised brewery logo in relief, ‘Bière Belge’ neck, a personalised cork, and a unique muselet. We also commission artists to design each label. All the artworks become part of our brewery’s art collection and can subsequently be admired in our brewery shop.
Ten years after his son Rik helped us launch our Magnum tradition, we are honouring ‘100 years of José Vermeersch’. The sculpture ‘Vrouw and Man’ dates from 1986 and is characteristic of his work, in which the human figure is a recurring theme. His body of work is a bold, free expression of an authentic search for existential truth.
Read more on our blog
World Beer Awards 2021
In the past years, our beers seized various podium spots at the World Beer Awards, which are still the most prestigious beer awards in the world. Our beers performed very well again this year!
St.Bernardus Abt 12 is very consistent in this field and wins, just like in 2019, gold in the ‘Belgian Style Strong’ category. St.Bernardus Prior 8 became the champion in the ‘Belgian Style Dubbel’ category back in 2019 and was named ‘World’ Best Dark Belgian Style Dubbel’ later that year, in other words, the best Dubbel beer in the world. The beer brings home medals again this year, as Prior 8 was awarded silver.
Design award for St.Bernardus Tokyo
In June 2020, we introduced a canned beer for the first time: St.Bernardus Tokyo. The can was designed by the West-Flemish illustrator Jonas Devacht.
We were very happy to learn that the design was awarded a silver medal in the ‘can design’ category at the World Beer Awards for ‘design’. We are the only Belgian brewery that won a medal in this category. Unlike the regular ‘taste’ awards, the ‘design’ awards are scored at a global level, not per country.
We are very proud that we are one of the 150 global honorees at the World Beer Awards for ‘design’!
Book St.Bernardus
We're celebrating the 75th anniversary of our brewery with the release of a brand new book!
The book offers you a unique look behind the scenes of St.Bernardus: from the rich history to the brewing process and the recently renovated visitor centre. In addition, you will be served various (inter)national recipes and cocktails by various top and starred chefs, in which our beers play the leading role.
That's no less than 192 pages of pure reading pleasure! Taste the story of St.Bernardus!
Now available in our webshop through link below.
St.Bernardus Wit in can
St.Bernardus Wit is now also available in cans!
Sales manager Marco Passarella: “A little over a year ago, we launched our first beer in a can (St. Bernardus Tokyo) and we're now adding a second name to the range. St.Bernardus Wit has been on the market for quite some time in bottles, but we felt that we could no longer ignore the international demand to make this beer available in cans."
To drink a beer in a can is always a good idea for a refreshing and thirst-quenching beer as Wit, which you should drink young and ‘fresh’ (i.e., this is not a beer for storing or cellaring). If you want to cellar your beer, you should stick with bottled beers. Our cans have a shelf life of 18 months.
Cans are very handy for a field trip, a outdoor sporting activity, a picknick or a hike. There's no hassle with the empty bottles, just crush your empty can, take them home and recycle them in your reclycling bin.
Finally, cans are less heavy and can be fully recycled, which in turn has a positive sustainable environmental impact. Moreover, the can offers more protection against light exposure, which is better for the beer.
In short, the St.Bernardus Wit cans are a perfect addition to our portfolio, with bottles 33cl and 75cl, kegs and now also cans 33cl.
Look for our cans in a store near you!
Magnum 2021
In 2012 we decided to start producing a limited number of magnums (bottles containing 1.5 litres of beer). Each year, our Abt 12 is bottled in a special dark brown St.Bernardus magnum, featuring the brewery’s logo in relief, a ‘Bière Belge’ neck, a personalised cork and a unique muselet, and we ask a different artist to design the label. Artists whose work has graced past labels include Rik Vermeersch, Christian Silvain, Kamagurka and André Van Schuylenbergh.
For the magnum edition of 2021, for the first time in the series, a photo features as the center piece on the label.
The universe of narrative photographer Bart Ramakers is an artistic rendition of traditional themes taken from the classical arts, theatre, myths and literature. His multi-layered oeuvre bears witness to his training as a draughtsman and historian. In addition to surrealism, he also derives his inspiration from Caravaggio, whose Baroque chiaroscuro signature is clearly recognisable in the scene that Ramakers created for Panamarenko’s photograph Around The World in 80 Years, which would unintentionally become his last. At the end of 2019, a host of Flemish celebrities gathered at Panamarenko’s home to promote his ‘Jules Verne’ exhibition through a number of images inspired by the work of this famous author. Ironically, two days later Panamarenko would depart for his last and longest journey ever. Besides Panamarenko and his wife Eveline Hoorens, you will also recognise Rob Vanoudenhoven, Mark Uytterhoeven, Guy Mortier, Stijn Meuris and Bart Persoons.
Abt 12 Day 2020 - Livestream
We'll be celebrating Abt 12 Day again! Since it will be a bit more difficult this year to get together with your friends, family or colleagues and enjoy our Heavenly Nectar, we're organising a Livestream on Saturday, December 12, 2020 at 08.00 PM CET.
What's on the menu?
We'll go deeper into the history of the brewery and do a vertical tasting (don't worry, we'll then explain exactly what this means) of different vintages of our Abt 12, we'll shine our light on our anniversary year '75 years of St.Bernardus in 2021', the chef of our rooftop tasting room Bar Bernard will be preparing the favorite national dish of Belgium "Stew with Abt 12", etc.
If you have any questions that you would like to ask us during this Livestream? Feel free to forward them in advance to marketing@sintbernardus.be.
Keep an eye on our social media pages for further details! And make sure your fridge is stocked with some St.Bernardus Abt 12, preferably you should also have our glassware handy ;-)
World Beer Awards 2020
Despite the COVID-19 virus the World Beer Awards did take place, they’re among the most prestigious beer prizes in the world. Just like last year our brewery won some medals!
St.Bernardus Tripel won gold in the category ‘Belgian Style Tripel’, just as in 2019. As well as for St.Bernardus Abt 12 (in the category ‘Belgian Style Strong’) as for St.Bernardus Prior 8 (in the category ‘Belgian Style Dubbel’) we may add a bronze medal to our trophy cabinet.
St.Bernardus Tokyo
St.Bernardus Tokyo Sounds familiar? You are quite right, because in 2012 we launched a one-off brew on the occasion of the opening of the first St.Bernardus-themed café in the Japanese capital. Eight years later, you can sample our St.Bernardus Tokyo again, albeit with a new recipe!
The young Belgian illustrator Jonas Devacht created the artwork for the can, which consists of an impression of Japanese nightlife in the iconic streets of Kanda district, where you can find ‘Brasserie St.Bernardus’.
St.Bernardus Tokyo (6% ABV) is an unfiltered, golden ale, which has been brewed with a large amount of wheat, holding the middle between a white beer and a saison. It’s topped off with an impressive white collar.
Magnum 2020
In 2012 we decided to start producing a limited number of magnums (bottles containing 1.5 litres of beer). Each year, our Abt 12 is bottled in a special dark brown St.Bernardus magnum, featuring the brewery’s logo in relief, a ‘Bière Belge’ neck, a personalised cork and a unique muselet, and we ask a different artist to design the label. Artists whose work has graced past labels include Rik Vermeersch, Christian Silvain, Kamagurka and André Van Schuylenbergh.
The 2020 Magnum Edition features a work of the Belgian visual artist Christophe Malfliet. Christophe Malfliet, born in 1966, lives and works in Dendermonde. He paints in series, mainly figurative, abstract or in interaction. With a uniform plasticity, it is invariably recognizable because of its style, the tousled color combinations, the strange atmosphere and the unlined lines. He always manages to inspire his paintings with a rebellious undertone, how innocent the scene may look.
Note well: this is a limited edition!
Gold medal - BBC 2019
Just like in 2018, St.Bernardus Tripel came out as the best (Belgian Style) Tripel at the Brussels Beer Challenge. The BBC is an annual international beer competition, in which the contestants vie for the title of ‘best beer’. Every beer entered into the competition by the participating breweries is carefully tasted and tested by a jury of 80 beer connoisseurs from all over the world. It goes without saying that we are extremely proud of this acknowledgement! St.Bernardus Tripel is a traditional abbey beer, brewed in the classic ‘Tripel’ style.
World Beer Awards 2019
The annual World Beer Awards are among the most prestigious beer prizes in the world, the 'Olympic Games of the beer world'. For the first time in years our brewery participated in the World Beer Awards. We registered 4 of our beers, which earned us no less than 5 medals.
Abt 12 won gold in the 'Belgian Style Strong' category and our St.Bernardus Wit was awarded a silver medal in the 'Belgian Style Witbier' category.
Prior 8 and Tripel are Country Winners (one step higher than the gold medal) in their respective 'Belgian Style Double' and 'Belgian Style Triple’ categories. Our Prior 8 and Tripel can now be called the best ‘Dubbel’ and ‘Tripel’ in Belgium for one year. At the end of last year, St.Bernardus Tripel also won the gold medal at the Brussels Beer Challenge for best 'Belgian Style' Tripel.
And it’s not all, on top of that the Prior 8 received the highest distinction in its category, namely ‘World's Best Dark Belgian Style Dubbel'. Prior 8 not only became a Country Winner, but also a 'Style Winner' worldwide, in other words, the world’s best ‘Dubbel’ beer! This also means that the Prior 8 can get even further this fall, since it will compete for the title of 'World's Best Dark Beer'. The results will be announced in September.
