La Kasteel Tripel est une bière de couleur miel, refermentée en bouteille. Au nez, elle séduit par des arômes de banane et de clou de girofle. Les houblons aromatiques sélectionnés avec soin donnent à cette bière une douce amertume complétée par des notes fraîches et fruitées. Une sensation de chaleur en bouche et une finale légèrement épicée dans laquelle l’alcool ressort fortement viennent compléter ce profil aromatique.

A stone’s throw away from our modern brewery, history was being written thirty years ago. At Ingelmunster Castle – the eponymous Kasteel – the late Luc Vanhonsebrouck brewed the very first Kasteel beer in 1989.

“The first Kasteel beer was dark, had 11% ABV and no head at all. It was only available in 75-cl bottles and there was just one place it was sold: Ingelmunster Castle itself. My father was hoping for queues to equal Westvleteren Abbey”, confides Xavier.

On 1 July 1991, Xavier became the fifth generation to work in the brewery. His first task? A complete rethink of the Kasteel beer marketing strategy. “We put the dark Kasteel beer into 33-cl bottles and purchased new crates and attractive beer glasses to emphasise the richness of our beer.”

Xavier also arranged for new beer mats and billboards to be designed, and came up with a bonus system for the reps. “The system worked and we soon had Kasteel beer successfully established on the market. We also became a shirt sponsor for Belgian football club Eendracht Aalst. In the 1993–1994 season, the team reached third place in the premier league. We had the whole country on our side!”