is a microbrewery located in Roermond in the southeast part of the Netherlands. It was founded by Brand brewery family member Leo Brand in 1986 and named after the patron saint of Roermond, St. Christoffel. Brand graduated as a Weihenstephan University brewing technician 10 years earlier and had worked at various German breweries and maltings before setting up the brewery. See weihenstephan. He brewed his first batch in a former furniture factory using second-hand brewing equipment on August 2 and officially opened the brewery on September 26, 1986. His first beer was a premium, heavily hopped German-style pilsner simply called St. Christoffel, bottled in 33 cl and 2-liter swing-top bottles. National success was quickly followed by exports to Germany, Belgium, America, and Denmark. Production capacity peaked in the early 1990s and the brewery moved to its current location in an industrial estate and replaced its brewhouse with new equipment, thereby almost tripling its output. Its second beer, Robertus, a strong Munich-style dark lager, was launched in 2003 and followed by a Bock in 2005 (replaced by a Doublebock in 2007), a dry-hopped Imperial Pilsner in 2008 and a dark Bavarian-style Weizen in 2009. All of their beers are free of adjuncts and meet the German Reinheitsgebot standards. See reinheitsgebot. The beers remain notable for their bold character.
There have been many personnel changes at Christoffel and a change of owners since the relocation. The most recent development was a buy-out by the husband (brewing engineer) and wife (general manager) team of Steven van den Berg and Joyce van den Elshout in the fall of 2009.
See also netherlands, the.
