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== History ==
The history of the De Troch brewery is a complicated mix of family inheritances and land purchases that date back to approximately 1795 when Joannes Franciscus De Troch (1766 – 1808) and his wife purchased an extensive farm with a number of outbuildings. Sometime around 1818 – 1820 a brewery and chicory roasting works were added. The brewery passed hands several times through the family of Joannes De Troch’s wife after her death in 1818. In 1857 Petronella Schoonjans married her nephew Egidius De Troch.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
Like many lambic brewers, Egidius De Troch became involved in politics and eventually was elected mayor of Wambeek in 1885. While mayor, Egidius still developed the brewery and erected the buildings which are still in use today. In 1861 Egidius and Petronella had a son, Ludovicus (Louis I), who would eventually take over the brewery in 1899. Louis I was also elected mayor of Wambeek after his father. The marriage between Louis De Troch and Maria Josepha De Neve produced seven children, only two of whom outlived their parents; their oldest son Ludovicus Albertus (Louis II) and Magdalena Theresia.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
In 1923 the first Louis De Troch installed a new brewing system that included cast iron mash tuns which are still in use today. By 1936 his son and successor Louis De Troch II had taken over the brewery, and by 1938 he was also the mayor of Wambeek where he remained until 1976. By 1954, with the pilsner craze in full swing Louis II was the only brewer left in Wambeek. In 1964 De Troch also opened up a beer shop to keep the business running.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref><ref name=“HoralDeTroch”HoralDeTroch>http://www.horal.be/vereniging/de-troch-wambeek Horal - De Troch (Dutch)</ref>
By 1974 Louis De Troch II was ready to retire and passed the brewery on to his nephew Jos Raes who had been working at the brewery since 1972. Jos (short for Jozef), the son of Magdalena and Raymond Raes, was raised by his uncle Louis and aunt Maria Louisa in the brewery. Jos downsized the farming aspect of the business after his uncle Louis II passed away in 1982. He continued to grow the brewery by introducing a line of ‘exotic’ beers under a new name, with the De Troch name still reserved for the more traditional lambics.
The name Chapeau did not become official until 1991. These sweetened products, made with fruit juices rather than whole fruits, are credited as having kept De Troch afloat in a time when many lambic breweries and blenders were closing their doors. Many of these sweetened fruit lambics were brewed on demand or at the request of groups or individuals.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref><ref name=“HoralDeTroch”HoralDeTroch>http://www.horal.be/vereniging/de-troch-wambeek Horal - De Troch (Dutch)</ref>
Today, De Troch is in its 7th generation of family ownership. After an accident in 2002 that left Jos Raes unable to brew for two years, his son Pauwel had to be shown how to brew by local brewing engineer Gert de Rouck. De Rouck, who had been working at the brewery for a short time before being hired at the Sint-Lieven brewery college, returned to the brewery during Christmas to teach Pauwel. Having learned on the job and through some independent studies at Ghent University College, Pauwel, who was married in 2002 and has two sons, is confident about the future. In 2004, Belgian health officials nearly shut down the brewery over safety/sanitations issues, providing an incentive for De Troch to change course.<ref name=“LambicLand”LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref> Though he acknowledges that the sweetened beers still bring in the most revenue, De Troch is slowly but surely bringing back its oude geuze as well as providing lambic on occasion for at least one other blender, [[Vanberg & Dewulf]]. De Troch is also a member of [[HORAL]], having signed as one of the six original members in 1997.<ref name=“HoralDeTroch”HoralDeTroch>http://www.horal.be/vereniging/de-troch-wambeek Horal - De Troch (Dutch)</ref>
== Beers ==