is a classic farmhouse brewery located in the agricultural town of Tourpes in the Belgian province of Hainaut in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. See wallonia. Situated only a few kilometers from the French border, Dupont Brewery is one of a few breweries that survive in an area that was at one time home to hundreds of small farm breweries. It is said that Dupont sits on a site where people have been brewing continuously since 1844. The brewery claims to have been well known for the quality of its beers as long ago as the 1880s. In 1920 Alfred Dupont, seeking to dissuade his son Louis from moving away to start up a farm in Canada, purchased the farm-brewery then known as Rimaux-Deridder. The brewery has been operated by the Rosier family in its current incarnation since 1950.

Well-deserved praise from British beer writer Michael Jackson and many others has helped this distinctive brewery and its outstanding beers thrive in recent decades. The flagship is Saison Vieille Provision, whose name derives from an old farm-brewer practice of making a special beer for provision, or “stock,” for use throughout the year. To many beer enthusiasts, Saison Vielle Provision, colloquially known as “Saison Dupont,” is the quintessential version of the Saison style. See saison.

The brewery produces a couple of unique stronger ales, notably Moinette and Avec Les Bon Voeux de la Brasserie Dupont (a robust holiday beer) as well as a dark Saison, Saison Brune. Dupont also pioneered several organic brews (bières biologique) and the present management has shown marketing savvy by presenting the brewery as a tourist attraction. An on-site bakery was added in 1994 and a cheese-making facility opened in 1995, making several distinctive rind-washed cheeses using a number of the brewery’s beers.

Annual production is around 10,000 HL (8,500 US barrels), which is small by any measure. Brasserie Dupont exports to other countries in Europe and to the United States and Japan.