Brouwcompagnie Rolling Hills

In Oudenaarde, Brouwcompagnie Rolling Hills connects contemporary craft brewing with the deep local memory of Flemish sour ales. The Vandermeersch brothers built the brewery around research into the lost Petre Devos brewery and the region’s Oudenaards Oud Bruin, while also making room for modern classics and experimental beers. Its identity is regional in the fullest sense: rooted in the Flemish Ardennes, but not confined by its past. From kitchen experiments to a local brewing mission The brewery’s story began with Karel Vandermeersch’s interest in Oudenaarde’s brewing history and years of home brewing. Edward later built a HERMS home-brewing system with childhood friend Emmanuel Pêtre, a descendant of the historic Petre Devos brewery. Petre Devos had been a major Oudenaarde brewery and an early twentieth-century pioneer of Oudenaards Oud Bruin. Reconstructing Oud Bruin In 2016, Edward and Karel Vandermeersch joined Emmanuel Pêtre to establish the Petre Devos Audenaerde beer company, with the aim of reconstructing the original Oud Bruin. The brewery says three years of research and experimentation led to the first volume in 2019. This regional tradition fits the broader history of Oud Bruin, a dark Flemish ale associated particularly with East Flanders and shaped by malty, fruity and gently tart character. A brewery of its own Commercial production of matured beer required dedicated equipment, so construction of the brewery began in 2020 using second-hand vessels and machinery sourced from several European countries. After roughly six months of work, the first volumes were brewed. With Antoon Vandermeersch joining his brothers and Emmanuel moving on, the brewery took the name Brouwcompagnie Rolling Hills—a reference to both the Flemish Ardennes landscape and its blend of old brewing traditions with a fresh outlook. A modern Oudenaarde brewery carrying regional sour-beer memory into a broader craft-brewing repertoire. Oudenaarde, Flemish Ardennes, East Flanders, Belgium 2016: Edward and Karel Vandermeersch and Emmanuel Pêtre founded the Petre Devos Audenaerde beer company to reconstruct Oud Bruin. 2019: After three years of research and experimentation, the first volume of Oud Bruin was produced. 2020: Construction began on the brewery’s own installation using second-hand equipment and tanks from across Europe.