Les Ouvrières
Origin: Hainaut / Wallonia (Southern Belgium)
Period: Industrial Revolution / Romantic and Victorian eras (1760-1900)
Style: Grisette (2ème catégorie) 4.8% alc/vol.
The Story
An ambitious class of young woman was rising in Belgium and France during the Industrial Revolution. With little to no means, they left the countryside to seek a meaningful life in the city and challenged the belief that women ought not work outside the home. These were the Grisettes.
Grisette means little grey one. It’s what the miners they served in the pubs called them on account of their grey frocks. But when they weren’t working, Grisettes were vibrant participants in Bohemian culture. They were artists and dreamers, expanding their literacy, knowledge and social standing on the road to a fulfilling life.
Here's to the women who refused to accept the world they were handed, and to all those who risked scorn and peril to build the ladder future generations would climb.
Brasserie du Bon Temps recreates historical recipes to help you experience the story of beer from accidental discovery to the world’s favourite tipple. Grisette is a light, aromatic Belgian ale that was popular among coal miners; it’s named after the women who served it.
Bière St. Bertin
Origin: Comté de Flandres (Contemporary Flanders, Belgium and Nord-Pas-du-Calais, France)
Period: Late Middle Ages / Early Renaissance (mid-1300s)
Style: Unclassified - A re-creation imagining one of the earliest hopped European beers. 5.2% alc/vol.
The Story
Weavers stepped back from their looms as the lifeblood of their villages began to flow toward the city. The year was 1332 and a young count, native to a different realm, had bought the support of Ypres by giving the city a monopoly on cloth, leaving poverty hanging heavily over the countryside.
But God does not forsake the faithful. And so He cast his light upon a centuries-old book of wisdom written by a curious nun, Hildegard von Bingen. It’s message to the monks of St. Bertin abbey was this: use the bitter flower of the rope-making vine (hops) to craft a new style of drink using far less malt. Hop yards soon covered the countryside, growing toward heaven in praise of God. The count earned less from his grain tax and the people of Ypres spent some of their clothmaking money on draughts of hoppy beer from the countryside. A new beer style, and a new economy, were born.
Brasserie du Bon Temps recreates historical recipes to help you experience the story of beer from accidental discovery to the world’s favourite tipple. Bière St. Bertin is the result of our research into the earliest hopped beers that emerged in Belgium during the Middle Ages.
King Gambrinus
Origin: Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Holy Roman Empire
Period: Early Modern and The Renaissance (circa 1500)
Style: Adambier (10% alc/vol.)
The Story
A man of intimidating stature with the confidence of a God, Gambrinus happily accepted Lucifer’s wager. How could a footrace with men be a challenge to someone like him? The Devil’s in the details, as it were, and Gambrinus would have to contest the race while carrying a barrel of beer. Our hero quickly devised a solution to this ridiculous demand; he drank the barrel dry. The lighter load was no burden and he won the race handily.
Such stories make up the legend of Gambrinus, the mythical king of beer. An amalgam of historical persons combined with the bravado of late-night discussions in 16th Century taverns, he was a well-known folk legend until the late 19th Century. Half buried in the sands of time, we are paying homage to the King by resurrecting a strong ale popular in Germany 500 years ago. This Adambier is best as a dessert beer, with notes of dark fruit, chocolate, liquorice and mild smoke that would make Gambriuns proud. He may have even discovered the style while paying Satan a visit in hell (and discovering coal in the process).
Brasserie du Bon Temps recreates historical recipes to help you experience the story of beer from accidental discovery to the world’s favourite tipple.