De Dolle Brouwers Produces Its First Oerbier

In 1980, a group including brothers Kris and Jo Herteleer took over an unused brewery in Esen, West Flanders, and established De Dolle Brouwers. Their first beer was Oerbier, which had developed from experimental brewing by the Herteleer brothers while they were students. The brewery describes an early prototype as having been brewed in a copper wash basin. Oerbier gave the new brewery its identity and its name, which translates as “The Mad Brewers.” Its dark malt character, bottle conditioning, and evolving acidity distinguished it from the standardized beers that dominated much of the Belgian market. De Dolle became part of a new generation of small independent Belgian breweries that renewed interest in strongly flavored specialty beer during the 1980s.