Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoven B.V. (De Schaapskooi

Status: Operacional

Fundação: 1884

Política de visitas: Pouca acessibilidade

Tel: +31 (0)13 535 81 47

The Dutch Abbey of Koningshoeven was founded in 1880 by French monk, Sebastian Wyart, after the abbot of the Trappist monastery Dominic Lacaes Sainte-Marie-du-Mont in Northern France sent scouts to look for a refuse abroad due to the anti-monastic fervour in France at the time. The Trappist brewery at the abbey was established soon after in 1884.

In 1969, the abbey licensed the brewing operations to the Artois Brewery (now InBev) but this agreement ended in 1980, when the monks returned to brewing themselves. Exports sales, which began in 1985, led to the breweries modernisation in 1989. A decade later, Bavaria, the second largest brewery in the Netherlands, established a company to relieve the aging monks of their brewing duties, renting the brewery from the abbey.

This distancing of the monks from day to day brewing led to a dispute with the International Trappist Association, the body governing labelling of goods with the ‘Authentic Trappist Product’ logo (see trappist.be). As a result, the brewery ceased use of the logo on 1 December 1999. Negotiations led to the reinstalment of the logo on 9-September 2005, after the monks committed to take a more active role in day-today brewing operations. However, of the seven Trappist breweries, Koningshoven is generally considered the most commercialised.

The Koningshoven brewery was originally called De Schaapskooi, and this former name is still used by some, particularly in the region close to the brewery. Further confusion is caused by the beers, usually marketed under the brand name La Trappe, being instead named Koningshoeven in some markets, particularly the USA.