(Bellegem-Kortrijk, BELGIUM) – Bockor OMER. Traditional Blond Ale is coming Stateside later this year.

‘Bockor OMER.’ won gold in the Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale category at this year’s World Beer Cup and will eventually launch in the U.S. in 11.2 oz. bottles. Per Artisanal Imports Eastern Sales Director, Lanny Hoff, “‘OMER.’ initial shipments will be early fall the way things are going. It takes time to design labels and packaging for the US market. When we start, we will bring in a substantial number of cases. The idea is to cover our entire market from coast to coast.”

Here is the complete OMER. story from the Bockor website:

“‘OMER.’ is the result of a craft that has been kept in the Vander Ghinste family for 120 years. For five generations, the recipes, brewing techniques and secrets have been passed on from father to son. The eldest son of every generation, called OMER, becomes head of the brewery.

When Rémi Vander Ghinste bought the brewery in 1892 for his son Omer, it immediately attained the name of ‘Brouwerijen Omer Vander Ghinste’.

This name was kept until 1977. Afterwards, the name was changed to ‘Brouwerij Bockor’ for commercial reasons.

AUTHENTICITY

The name of OMER stems from an era before brand names were used. When Omer Vander Ghinste started the brewery in 1892, he gave his beers his own name, as this was common in those days.

He promoted his beers by placing stained glass windows with the words: ‘bieren Omer Vander Ghinste’ in the front of the pubs. It was not an economically effective option to replace these windows at every change of generation. So the first name OMER was kept for the following generations.

The brewery was successively managed in this way by Omer (1892-1929), Omer Remi (1929-1961) and Omer (1961-2007). Today, the company is managed by the son of Omer, Omer Jean.

Nowadays these precious treasures of a traditional craft are still present in the street scene and have been the inspiration for our new beer OMER. traditional blond.”