History :

The 17^th century

1629 : Belgium, in the Flanders region, The city of Watou near Poperinge, was granted the privilege of becoming an earldom for the Earls van Yedegem. This family owned the castle of Watou, to which they constructed a brewery.

The 18^th century

1795 : During the French Revolution the plundering French troops burned the castle and the brewery. The noble family escaped the guillotine by running off to England.

The 19^th century

1820 : The brewery was rebuilt by a local farmer, under the typical Belgian slogan "Revolt all you want, but we still need beer here." The brewery was then named "In de Gouden Leeuw" (In the Golden Lion)

1862 : The Family Van Eecke became the new owners of the brewery by marriage, and started brewing top fermenting country ales. The brewery had an important, local significance until well after WW II. 

The 20^th century

1950 : With the revival of the authentic local ales in combination with modern marketing, the beautifully delicious beers of the brewery became a hot commodity in bars, cafés and fine restaurants all over Belgium and Northern France.

1962 : The Leroy family, a well respected brewing family for 7 generations, from the neighboring town of Boezinge, inherited Brewery Van Eecke. They maintained the high quality standard combined with the traditional craftsmanship of brewing. Under the supervision by Paul Priem the first steps toward international exportation are successfully taken.

1981 : The creation of our famous poperings hommelbier by Karel Leroy, due to the demand for a special beer for the Poperingse Hoppefeesten. This 3 yearly celebration for the harvesting of the hops of Poperinge by the way, Hommel is the local dialect for hops. This exceptional and hoppy ale has since then been worldwide rewarded with several golden and silver awards.

1985 : A large demand for "wittekes" white beer (or wheat beer), made us create our own version of this popular beer, that was soon respected all over Europe and beyond, which resulted in a golden medal in the Concour International of Montreal.

1995 : Due of the large demand for our Abbey beers, Hommelbier and Watou white beer, all bottling has been transferred to our modern brewery Het Sas. 

The 21^th century

2010 : For the first time, we participated an international contest "Monde Selection 2010" and were rewarded with the golden medal for our Pilsner Sas Pils, a golden medal for our Abbey beer Kapittel Blond and a silver medal for Poperings Hommelbier.

Momentarily we're exporting our beers all over Blegium, France,Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Australia, and the USA. And, recently Danny Dieussaert has been appointed to ensure our further expansion toward other international markets.

Important to know:

· Our brewery is still a family owned business, now managed by the 7th generation of brewers Philip & Hendrik Leroy.
· Our master brewer comes from a legacy father to son from several generations in our brewery
· Still the brewery uses only our own yeast-strings, cultivated in our Boezinge laboratory for the consistence of our quality and exclusive taste.

Article number: FBB27082