Oerbier means "original beer" as in, from the spring, or from the source. The beer started out as a home brew, being produced only in 5 gallon batches, until the two brothers, students at the time, purchased a small, defunct brewery and started producing enough to sell
Oerbier is brewed from no less than 6 malts. Poperinge Golding hops in flowers and a special yeast which makes it a little tart, especially with aging. The brewery ages the beer in underground cellars that maintain a natural temperature of 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit). In this environment, the beer is allowed to slowly mature into its complex and delicious character. After a few years, the slight tartness grows and begins to give the beer a vinous, wine like flavor.
Oerbier is naturally bottle conditioned- it contains yeast in the bottle that provide the carbonation, additional flavor, and vitamin content.
The motto "NAT en STRAF" on the glasses means "WET and STRONG", a warning of the 9% alcohol content by volume. The little person on the glasses and bottles is the Oerbier man, a simple creature who holds a brewers fork in his right hand, symbolizing the work and science, but looking to the other side, the result of all this, the glass of (Oer)beer.
In the year 2000, the yeast strain changed in oerbier, and resulted in a beer that was much sweeter and less acidic. Over the next several years, the brewers developed their own yeast strain, so they could return that well loved acidity to the beer, and so that it would age with much higher complexity. If you can find some of the older vintages, you can compare the different flavors! The Oerbier available now has returned to the old, more complex flavor, and has brought back the flavors that caused so many beer aficionados to fall in love with it in the first place.
Oerbier
Alc./Vol.: 9.0
Orginal Gravity: 1091
IBU: 16
