Martens

Commercial Brewery in Bocholt, Limburg, Belgium 🇧🇪

Established in 1758

Contact
Reppelerweg 1, Bocholt, 3950, Belgium
Subsidiaries
Description
Brewery Martens has been in business for 260 years. Throughout our rich history, which remains embedded in our native town of Bocholt to this very day, the brewery has always remained in hands of the Martens family. Yet, while we put great store by our family history, all eight generations of the Martens family have also continuously been driven by innovation and state-of-the-art processes, which is what has made us into one of the most modern and innovative breweries in the country today.

     Show


1.1
Appearance - 3 | Aroma - 1 | Flavor - 0.5 | Texture - 1 | Overall - 1

The 'rouge' hype of red candy flavoured, extremely sweet and simple beers in Belgium has even reached the Aldi supermarket chain meanwhile - and after having tasted thousands of beers, including some of the best in the world, a darker side of me still silently remains on the lookout for the "worst beer in the world" as well. So what can be worse than the "rouge van den Aldi", right? Thick and frothy, off-white (but vaguely pinkish-tinged), coarse, 'Brugse kant'-like lacing head - I must admit the heads on rouges are often pleasing and that is where it all stops; crystal clear coral red robe rather than deep ruby red, but red alright. Aroma of red Haribo candy as usual, cotton candy, the old familiar 'poepkens' of course, a candy version of orange peel somehow, red bubblegum, rubber, cheap industrial perfume, motor oil somewhere. Utterly sugary onset as expected - the watery form of red candy ('poepegatjes' indeed), sticky yet thin, annoying throughout in a very 'loud' and blatant way; red candy sugar or red bubblebum further dominates everything else so there are no 'phases' of flavour, everything remains as monotonously red candy-like as it can be, with even a more chemical, motor oil-like aspect to it than is the case in some of the other great masterpieces in this 'genre'; indeed I must admit that in comparison with Kasteelbier Rouge, the one that made it all happen in Flanders (rouge was already spreading in Wallonia and northern France before that one saw the light of day), this version feels significantly inferior, more chemical, less 'full', more industrial. Never thought I would say this, but apparently there are quality levels even within this infernal 'rouge' genre. I think this one almost equals Average Rob's Tout Bien Rouge, another lowpoint in Belgian brewing history and also produced by 'independent bad beer factory' Martens, but I am inclined to assume that it had to be produced even more cheaply for the stern commissioner in question - the famed budget supermarket - and that the net result is therefore even lower class than the rest. I hate these 'rouges' in general, but this one must be the worst of them all so far... I can only rate this expression of bad taste and cheapness when thinking of the very worst beers I ever had - and those are engraved in my memory just as deeply as the very best - coming to the sobering conclusion that we are indeed very close to rock bottom here. There is, or has been, very little on the market worse than this chemical, sugar-ridden, unfathomably cheap and simplistic abomination - even for a rouge, which is horrible as a concept 'tout court', this Buval version manages to painfully underperform. Never thought that was even possible - in any case this thing belongs to the very worst 'beers' I ever had.

Tried on 14 Mar 2026 at 01:43


6
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 5.5 | Flavor - 5.5 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 6

Piwo z dokladnie taka etykieta ale na tylnej napisane: Brouwerij Sint-Jozef. Bree-Opitter. Price was 7,76 PLN taken from www.smakpiwa.pl long long time ago. Znikajace oceny, bo ta chyba byla na ratebeer. Do meritum, chyba bylo jedno z lepszych i tresciwszych belgijskich witbirow jakie testowalem.

Tried from Bottle on 01 Feb 2026 at 17:41


6

Tried from Bottle on 17 Jan 2026 at 17:18


6.5
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

17/1/2026. Bottle at ITFC Beer share. From the Norwich Arts Centre fundraiser following the World Beer Awards. Pours fine. Aroma is yeasty, citrus, malty, herbal. Quite sweet. Touch spicy. Medium body, oily, quite lively. Likeable.

Tried from Bottle on 17 Jan 2026 at 17:17


6.1
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6.5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Tried from Bottle on 17 Jan 2026 at 17:15


4.9
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4.5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 4.5

Canned 500ml. -from Carrefour Liege. Clear darker golden coloured, medium sized white head, sweet malty nose. Sweet malty, sugary, alcohol and grainy notes in the finish. Crap.

Tried from Can on 20 Dec 2025 at 10:04


1

Tried on 10 Oct 2025 at 20:43


6
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

kolor złoty, dość głęboki, klarowny, piana białą, niespecjalnie obfita, raczej krótka. zapach czysty, jasne słody, minimalny spieczony chleb, trochę ziół, odrobina trawy, suchej piwnicy i płatków kukurydzianych. w smaku lekkie, wytrawne, jasne słody, spieczony chleb, zioła, odrobina kukurydzy, czysto i klasycznie. goryczka niska, ale obecna, ziołowa, krótka, subtelna. w ustach pijalne, lekkie, lekko wysuszające. nasycenie umiarkowane do wysokiego

Tried from Bottle on 18 Sep 2025 at 19:12


5.1
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 5

Can in Costa Rica.
Pours clear light golden with a medium sized white head, light lacing. Fruity, straw, grassy, wet grains.
Ok

Tried from Can on 11 Aug 2025 at 02:41


4.6
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 4.5 | Flavor - 4.5 | Texture - 5 | Overall - 3.5

Pours clearish, pinkwhite head. Scent is 'poepegattekes' but even a bit more chemical. Taste is sweet, very 'hollow'. A lot of 'poepegattekes' artificial cherry-like candy sugary syurp filth. Some relatively high carbonation lifts it up, and hides the truly stickyness underneath - which does tend to take over later on, and reveal it's awefullness in full towards the aftertaste - sticky sugary chemical syrup madness.

Tried on 19 Jun 2025 at 08:56