Gageleer cvba

Around 1980, a desire for a beer brewed `to medieval tastes´ led us to the Cruydeboeck (“Book of Herbs”) by Belgian botanist and physician Rembert Dodoens (Mechelen, 1517 – 1585). The road to actually realizing this desire was long, but following a detour through a (then) small Walloon brewery in 1988 we arrived at our first “garage beer” in Beerse (province of Antwerp).
On 23 November 1996, the newly-founded “Proef” brewery in Lochristi bottled the first 1,000 liters of Gageleer, brewed from the same recipe as the original “garage beer” on behalf of De Wielewaal, then a nature conservation society in Turnhout (province of Antwerp).
In 1997, five members of De Wielewaal nature society raised the capital to found a co-operative, with the goal of marketing a beer to fund the purchase and conservation of nature reserves in the Campine.
The company went organic in 2003. Gageleer has been a certified organic beer since 29 August 2003.
2012 saw the original co-operative transformed into a co-operative company with a social objective, and Gageleer cvba became Gageleer cvba-so.

Author: Caroline Porsiel

Caroline Porsiel is a master distiller and liqueurist based in East Ellijay, Georgia. She founded House of Applejay, a fine spirits and liqueur distillery, in 2022 with her mother, Sabine, crafting award-winning products like Applejay from Ellijay, Mt. Frozen Knob Vodka, and Winter Cherry Mountain Liqueur. The distillery won a 2024 Best of Georgia Award and a 2025 Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition for its Winter Cherry Mountain Liqueur. As a founding member of the AMBRU Campaign, launched in 2020, Porsiel advocates for the global recognition of American Brandy and Rum. She continues to drive innovation in the craft spirits industry from her active distillery in the heart of Georgia’s apple country.