European Gold for Straffe Hendrik and Brugse Zot

November 2009

At the European Beer Star Awards 2009 – which is more or less the European 'championship of beer' – the Halve Maan (Half Moon) Brewery has once again carried off a number of important prizes.

All in all, three of their beers won major awards:  Straffe Hendrik won gold in the Belgian Style Triple (golden) category, Brugse Zot Dubbel Bruin also won gold in the Belgian Style Double (dark) category.  And last but not least, Brugse Zot Blond won the bronze medal in the Belgian Style Ale category.

This year a total of no fewer than 836 beers from 35 different countries took part in the various competitions and this year’s success confirms the continuing superior quality of their beers.

Brugse Zot
In recent years Brugse Zot has been amongst the medals on more than one occasion in prestigious competitions: last year, the pale ‘blond’ beer won the Gold Medal at the Beer World Cup for the second year in a row.

With the launching of Brugse Zot in 2005, Xavier Vanneste (the son of Véronique Maes and therefore the sixth generation of the Maes family to enter the beer business) also re-launched the old family brewery.  Today, “De Halve Maan” is the last working brewery in the city centre of Bruges and is still fully independent.

Partly as a result of its many prize-winning triumphs, Brugse Zot has been a great success, both at home and abroad.  The brewery has had to increase production on several occasions and the beer is now exported to more than 15 countries.

Straffe Hendrik
After two decades of effort, last year Xavier Vanneste finally succeeded in bringing the rights of the Straffe Hendrik beer brand back to Bruges.  At the start of 2009 this cult beer was re-launched by the Halve Maan, brewed in accordance with the original family recipe.

This pale ‘blond’ Bruges triple beer has rediscovered the full, powerful taste of yesteryear.  And less than a year after its reintroduction, Straffe Hendrik has already won its First European gold medal.

Following are a selection of images from the prestigous event, held in Nuremberg. For further information, visit the Euro Beer Star website.