Dupont Brewery | |||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Location | Rue Basse 5, B-7904 Tourpes, West-Hainaut, Belgium |
||||||||||||||||
Year opened | 1950 | ||||||||||||||||
Annual production | 6,500 hL[1] | ||||||||||||||||
Active beers | |||||||||||||||||
|
The Dupont Brewery (in French: Brasserie Dupont) is a brewery located in Tourpes (Leuze-en-Hainaut), in the centre of West-Hainaut, Belgium. The current brewery, founded in 1950, is located on a working farm which dates back to 1759 and has significant brewing history. In the 1990s, a bread bakery and cheese-making facility were added.
Historically, their best-selling beer was the Moinette Blonde. However, the popularization of the Saison Dupont by their American importer in the 1980s has led to great international popularity for this beer, which provides a link to the historic farmhouse ales of the region.
Contents |
The brewery's copper boiling kettles date from the 1920s, but there are also a number of pieces of modern equipment in use in the brewhouse. Square, flat-bottomed fermentation tanks of stainless steel are utilized to provide specific flavor characteristics that are evident in the finished beer. Primary fermentation lasts about 5 days, followed by a 1-2 week secondary fermentation. After this, the beer is packaged and warm-aged at the brewery for 6-8 weeks at 73°F(23°C). All of Dupont's beers are naturally carbonated via bottle conditioning.
The distinctive Dupont house yeast strain has been the subject of much speculation and discussion. The complexity of flavors it generates has caused some to suggest that in fact a combination of multiple strains are used, and its good performance at high temperatures and signature spiciness have led some to conjecture that it was originally a red wine strain that has been adapted to beer fermentation. While most beer is fermented at temperatures not exceeding 68-72°F(20-22°C), the tanks at Dupont have been observed to have reached the mid-90's(32°C+).[2]