Story

The brewing tradition is very much alive in Mont-Saint-Guibert. At the end of the 19th century, the village was home to more than seven breweries, spread across various farms. From 1858 to 1996, the Grade Brewery was one of Belgium’s proudest institutions, producing hundreds of hectolitres per year. For over 20 years, local residents have dreamed of taking up the challenge and bringing a brewery back to life.

The challenge was met: the Orne Cooperative and Participatory Brewery was born in July 2018, driven by the determination of 19 citizens from the community.

They wanted their cooperative, which has a social purpose and is a member of the Transition network, to produce a local beer that is of high quality, participative and respectful of the environment. These objectives, enshrined in their charter, take precedence over the profit motive and guide all their decisions.

The brewery is initially located in the heart of our village's old brewery. Quite a symbol for the villagers.

From September 2018 and into January 2019, the brewery buildings were refurbished with the help of cooperators to meet technical and sanitary requirements, in terms of production.

From September 2018 to January 2019, the Parallel to these developments, a fundraising campaign was launched via an appeal to cooperators. This harvest was used to buy the first vats essential to the launch of their first beer, which they were keen to produce directly in their brewery. By December 2018, around a hundred cooperators already believed in the project. A year later, they launched their first brew, which was presented to the 300 cooperators. L'Ornoise was born! 

The story continues. In the early 2020s, the brewery cooperative has to face the biggest health crisis of the century and floods that famously damage its brand-new equipment. These two traumas do not dampen the enthusiasm of the young brewers. They launched a new beer during the great confinement. 16ORNE was born. But the decision was made: to continue growing, the brewery had to find a new home.

The cooperators were looking for a sufficiently large, accessible and available farm in Mont-Saint-Guibert. They found the Ferme à la Dîme on the heights of the village, a stone's throw from the Brabant university campus, as part of the Sur le Champ project. After a few months' work, the move took place discreetly, leaving the way clear in 2023 for l'Ornoise Triple! Their third marvel.

Summer 2024 will see the birth of a fourth beer: the Ornoise RôZette. An original, sour, fruity beer made from the fruit of the aronia plant, a mysterious medicinal plant used by the indigenous peoples of North America.

And there are plenty of other projects in the pipeline, including a number of collaborations with the farm's artisans: coffee stout, cookies made with spent grain...