Moinette with malt and hops, Tourpes' other craft
At Brasserie Dupont, processing does not stop with beer: a pressed cheese brings cheesemaking, malt and hops together.
A brewery making cheese too
In Tourpes, within Leuze-en-Hainaut, Brasserie Dupont has expertise beyond brewing tanks. Its cheese range includes Moinette with malt and hops. Rather than confusing cheese with the similarly named beer, discover a dairy product prepared by the same company. This meeting recalls how ingredients and techniques can travel between trades without producing identical foods.
A farm brewery becomes a family story
The account published for the family centenary places the brewery in an old farm brewery with origins in 1759. Alfred Dupont bought it for his son Louis in 1920. The family project diverted him from a planned departure for Canada. This belongs to the company's history, not the birth date of this particular cheese. The 2020 release does, however, already document cheesemaking and several cheese types.
The time of pressed cheese
Moinette with malt and hops is presented in wheels around one and a half kilograms. The producer specifies brining, then maturation with Moinette Brune for six to eight weeks. Working the curd, shaping and maturation care create something different from fresh cheese. Malt and hops link the name to brewing, but reducing its flavour to a glass of beer would miss the dairy structure and maturation's own roles.
Attributing a distinction precisely
The company presents this product as Cheese of the Year in the 2016 Walloon competition. The distinction is reported in the producer's terms; it does not mean every Moinette cheese received the same award. The name covers several preparations. Vieux Moinette matures much longer, while Carré de Moinette belongs to another texture and format family. The full name therefore identifies the right product rather than buying on the brewery name alone.
Discovering Tourpes differently
A portion can belong on a board, in a sandwich or a hot preparation according to intended use. Check ingredients and maker advice rather than infer complete composition from the name. Sales and visit opportunities evolve; enquire before going to Tourpes. This cheese adds a tangible product and processing story to a Wallonie picarde food journey. It also shows how a brewery can sustain cheesemaking alongside drinks, worth discovering in its own right.
Photos and credits
Photo 1 — Moinette Brune, the beer used to mature Moinette cheese with malt and hops. Soti · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source.
