VBDCK Brewery - Kerel

VBDCK
Past, Present, Future
°1867 +1966 °2015
The Verbeeck - Back brewery has been around since the end of the 19th century, when it became one of the most beloved independent breweries in the northern region of Belgium. The brewery was, is and remains a family affair: no monks or big corporations in sight. The secrets of its successes were passed on from father to son until they became fathers themselves... and so on. However, the sons of the sixties-generation had other plans. In 1966, the brewery dozed off for a short nap.
°1867 +1966 °2015
In 2015, a new generation has risen and so has the brewery. The Verbeeck-Back family bloodline was reinforced by the De Cock family. Together, they have formed the formidable, reassuringly Belgian-sounding name Verbeeck – Back – De Cock. VBDCK. This new crop of VBDCK heirs to the family tradition of Belgian quality and craft has literally been digging up history by its roots. They are ripping through the nostalgic silence with KEREL, the beer that says it all, and the transformation of the original brewery and family residence into a new place to stay.
It’s time for a real resurrection.
KEREL
°1867 +1966 °2015
The Genie Yeast in the Bottle
When the original family brewery closed down in 1966, all of the original beers were lost. None of it was saved.Or so people thought.
Deep down in one of the basements, covered by a pile of rubble, a single bottle of the original KEREL beer had been preserved. The glass was unbroken. The bottle cap was firmly in place. Luck? Destiny? No one wasted time on these philosophical questions. What they needed now, was the miracle of science. With the greatest of care, the bottle was whisked off and offered to a team of Belgian experts and university scholars to analyze and extract the original KEREL yeast DNA. It’s the very same yeast that is used today to brew every new delicious batch of KEREL beer.
Think about how special that is.
Not only is every bottle of KEREL you’re holding today rooted in a tradition that goes back several centuries. This is a beer that has survived against all odds. It was left behind, abandoned to become part of the past. It was never meant to survive. But it did. Somehow, it came back stronger than ever, bringing its full flavours and strengths into a new age.