Rodenbach is a brewery in Roeselare, Belgium, now owned by Palm Breweries. It is noted for its barrel-aged sour beers in the Flemish red style.
Brewery
In 1821, the four Rodenbach brothers (Pedro, Alexander, Ferdinand and Constantijn) invested in a small brewery in Roeselare, in the West Flanders province of Belgium. The brothers agreed to a partnership for fifteen years. At the end of this period, Pedro and his wife, Regina Wauters, bought the brewery from the others and Regina ran the business while Pedro served in the military. Their son Edward later took over the brewery (1864), and it was during his directorship that the brewery saw great growth.
Edward's son, Eugene, took over in 1878 and, in preparation for this position, travelled to England where he learned how to ripen beer in oak barrels and then mix old and young beers. It was this method of producing beer that Rodenbach became famous for. As Eugene produced no male offspring, a public limited liability corporation was created and most shares remained in the hands of descendants of the Rodenbachs until 1998 when the brewery was sold to Palm Brewery.
After the take-over, Palm quickly stopped production of Rodenbach's Alexander beer, a cherry-flavoured beer.[1] However, in recent years, Palm/Rodenbach has produced and distributed, first, Rodenbach foederbier, which is served only from cask, and is unfiltered and unblended.