Liefmans Brewery is a Belgian specialty brewery in Oudenaarde, in the province of East Flanders. The brewery focuses on mixed fermentations using yeast and lactic acid bacterial strains, producing beers that show notable acidity. Since 2008, Liefmans has been part of the Duvel-Moortgat group. See duvel moortgat. The brewery’s best known beers are a 5% alcohol by volume (ABV) Flanders sour brown ale called Oud Bruin; the 8% ABV Goudenband, which is similar to the Oud Bruin, but heavier; and a 6% ABV cherry ale named Liefmans Cuve-Brut (formerly known as Liefmans kriek). All Liefmans beers are blended, mildly hopped, and made from pale base malts with the addition of dark caramel and roasted malts.

“Oud Bruin” is Flemish for “old brown.” After fermentation for a week in open fermenters, the beer matures relatively warm at around 15°C (approximately 60°F) for 4 to 8 months to allow its lactic acidity to develop and mellow. Before packaging, beers from different vats are blended and mixed with fresh beer for priming and refermentation. Until 2007, Liefmans also made an Oud Bruin called Odnar with only 4% ABV.

Oud Bruin is also the base beer for the brewery’s kriek (the word is Flemish for “cherry’). Kriek in Belgium can be made from lambic or other base brews. See kriek and lambic. After the end of fermentation, the Oud Bruin is put on macerated cherries (about 13 kg per 100 l) and aged in cold, temperature-controlled tanks for a year. See priming sugar. Before packaging, this beer is blended with Oud Bruin and Goudenband of different ages. Sour cherries show through against a sherry-like backdrop featuring raisiny flavors and fine acidity.

The oldest written reference to the brewery dates from 1679, when it was owned by a brewer named Vilet. The brewery acquired its current name in 1780 after the marriage of Maria Anth Carola Vilet, heir to the brewery, to Jacobus Joannus Liefmans. The brewery moved out of town, from a location in Krekelput to the current location on the banks of the River Schelde in 1933. The original family owners maintained possession of the brewery until 1974, after which the brewery changed hands several times. The last brew was made at the brewery in 1991, when it was taken over by the Riva Brewery of Dentergem, across the river. There Liefmans wort continued to be brewed, but it was fermented, conditioned, and bottled at the old Liefmans plant. In 2007, Riva went bankrupt, and a year later Duvel Moortgat acquired the Liefmans facility. Now Liefmans worts are brewed at the Duvel Moortgat plant in Breendonk and then trucked to Oudenaarde for fermentation, aging, blending, and finishing.

See also belgium.