Brouwerij Palm

Commercial Brewery in Steenhuffel, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 🇧🇪
Owned by Bavaria Brouwerij (Swinkels Family Brewers)
Associated Venue: Palm Brewery

Established in 1706

Contact
Steenhuffeldorp 3, Steenhuffel, 1840, Belgium
Subsidiaries
Brouwerij Palm owns 2 breweries:
Description
Sometime before 1698 one Andries Van Doorselaer started renting a brewery next to the church in Steenhuffel; however, he was able to open his own brewery when he purchased the De Hoorn property across the street in 1706. In 1801 De Hoorn is sold by public auction to Jan Baptist De Mesmaecker and Clara Bastaerts. In 1908, his daughter Henriette De Mesmaecker married Arthur Van Roy, a descendant of a brewing family from Wieze.

Arthur kick-started the brewery’s industrial development in order to sell his beers far beyond the borders of the municipality. He also created his own “Spéciale Belge” brew. In 1929, Arthur Van Roy gave his “Spéciale Belge” the brand name “Spéciale PALM”. The brewery continued to grow before and after the second World War.

In 2014 Palm Breweries is renamed Palm Belgian Craft Brewers. A new micro-brewery is opened in order to experiment with new combinations of herbs, spices, hops, fruit and wood, and is named in honour of De Hoorn. At 10 hl, the capacity of the micro-brewery is almost exactly the same as that of the village brewery of days gone by.

On 9 May 2016, the Dutch brewery Bavaria N.V. (Swinkels Family Brewers) bought a majority stake in the company. Bavaria initially bought 60% of the shares and will expand this to 100% in 2021.

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6.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

On tap at Cafe Horta, Antwerp. Hazy copper colour with lasting creamy head. Caramel/yeast aroma. Lovely and drinkable in mouth. Caramel/yeast/hop finish. Quite full in mouth and much better than normal Palm

Tried from Draft on 27 Feb 2006 at 08:11


4.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4

(bottle) Clear amber colour with a foamy yellow medium-sized foam. Swet malty doughy aroma with caramel and hints of fruitiness (raisins). Sweet, slightly artificial flavour, light bodied, moderately carbonated. Sweet initial malty and grainy taste with a fruity note and a sweet and slim malty finish.

Tried from Bottle on 13 Feb 2006 at 17:51


5.3
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Pours brown with little white head. Smell of a normal beer. Taste of sourish bitter flavor.

Tried on 04 Feb 2006 at 10:09


5.8
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

A yellow beer with a white head. The aroma is sweet yeasty, while the flavor is sweet with primary notes of caramel, but also hints of alcohol, and with a smooth mouthfeel. A boring blond.

Tried on 28 Nov 2005 at 11:43


5.8
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6

New rating:0.33l bottle, Palm Speciale, shared with and courtesy of heavy (thanks!) The 3.6 seemed a bit high so I decided to try it again from heavy’s bottle, just to remind myself how it tasted. And was shocked... nowhere even close. Sweet malty nose, some yeast, caramel... blah. Weak, lemony taste. Some weak caramel malt, weak hop, stale yeastiness... watery. Some radlerish qualities. I’m positive that it was better before. Not the worst beer around but very unimpressive. It might’ve been an off bottle and I’ll rerate it... contains propylene glycol alginate (emulsifier/stabilizer/thickener) and potassium metabisulfite (not one of the nicer preservatives around). Why? 5/4/4/1/9.Old rating:Found in a great shop in Split today. 0.33l bottle, Palm Export. Pours a beautiful light shade of brown / dark amber maybe, and a small thick creamy head that never dissipates extremely slowly. The nose is quite fruity, but I really can’t think of which fruit (it’s on the tip of my tongue...), maybe slightly sourish. Good so far. The taste is nice enough, but not really "aleish", more like some full tasting lager. It’s quite well made though, subtle malty, fruity and creamy flavors, with some subtle bitterness in the finish and the aftertaste. I like it, not flashy, but far from offensive, and quite refreshing. 7/4/7/3/15 (3.6)

Tried from Bottle on 16 Oct 2005 at 04:42


6.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

Bottled(300ml). -very good and easy drinkable beer, little bit too sweet hop malt flavor, sweet palate, nice hop and light bready aroma, hop bitter finish

Tried from Bottle on 14 Sep 2005 at 09:35


6.2
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

(Bottle 33 cl) Dark golden - or light amber if you prefer - with a creamy, white head. Distinct caramel in both aroma and flavour with quite some malty sweetness and a rather warming alcohol. Bitterness is almost absent. A "Speciale" that’s a bit stronger than usual, but basically not very spectacular. 030905

Tried from Bottle on 03 Sep 2005 at 10:36


7.4
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Draught. Hazy yellow colour, huge creamy white head. Citric wheaty aroma. Citric, wheaty and yeasty flavour with hoppy hints. Fruity dry finish.

Tried on 07 Aug 2005 at 23:18


3.6
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5

Bottled. Pale golden, small head. Grasy maize aroma. Dry, yet fruity with mellow mouthfeel. Grassy finish with some bitterness. Drinkable, but unspectacular standard lager.

Tried from Bottle on 22 Jul 2005 at 04:00


5.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Draught. Copper coloured, big foamy head. Cranberry aroma with hoppy hints. Hoppy malty flavour with weak hints of fruit. Pretty boring for being Belgian...

Tried on 19 Jul 2005 at 13:43