Liefmans

On the Scheldt in Oudenaarde, Liefmans represents one of Belgium’s long-running brewing traditions: a brewery whose identity grew from brown ales, fruit beers and the patient art of blending. Its documented history reaches back to 1679, while the surviving brewery site preserves historic equipment and a brewing culture shaped notably by Rosa Merckx, who guided Liefmans for decades and helped define its modern character. Oudenaarde roots Liefmans is recorded in Oudenaarde from 1679, with the brewery’s present heritage closely tied to the Scheldt-side site in Aalststraat. Official brewery history places Jacobus Liefmans in Oudenaarde around 1750. The heritage inventory records a later brewery complex built in 1927, with much of its brewing infrastructure preserved, including copper cooling equipment, open fermentation vessels and a small museum. Fruit, maturation and blending The brewery’s distinctive tradition developed around maturation and coupage: younger beer is blended with older beer, allowing fermentation and character to develop together. Liefmans says cherries began entering maturation tanks on a limited scale around 1900, when local farmers exchanged surplus cherries for beer. This tradition underpins the brewery’s association with fruit beers, while its Oud Bruin and Goudenband belong to the darker, gently tart brewing culture of East Flanders. Rosa Merckx and the glass Rosa Merckx joined Liefmans in 1946 and later became its master brewer, serving as a major figure in the brewery’s twentieth-century development. The Belgian Beer Glass Museum’s Liefmans Fruitesse exhibit adds a serving detail: the beer’s squat tumbler was designed for the brewery’s “On the Rocks” presentation, with illustrated instructions showing ice added before the beer. Liefmans is defined by Oudenaarde brown ales, fruit-led brewing and the deliberate blending of young and mature beer. Oudenaarde, East Flanders, Belgium 1679 1679: Liefmans is recorded in Oudenaarde at Krekelput. 1750: Brewer Jacobus Liefmans is associated with establishing the brewery in Oudenaarde. 1900: The brewery begins adding cherries to maturation tanks on a limited scale. 1927: A permit is granted for a new brewery on the eastern bank of the Scheldt in Edelare. 1946: Rosa Merckx begins working at Liefmans.