JOHN MARTIN

Diabolici, Dominus (Double and Triple), Gordon Finest (Scotch, Copper, Silver, Red, Gold and Platinum), Gordon Five, Gordon Xmas, Martin’s Pale Ale, Martin’s IPA, Martin’s Blond Ale, Waterloo (Double Dark and Triple blond), Bourgogne des Flandres and gamme Timmermans.

The British John Martin left his native country in 1909 to settle in Antwerp. He then launched a citrus and beverages company specialised as from 1912 in the import of the famous Irish stout, Guinness. The man will even manage to convince the prestigious brewery to create a version of Guinness especially for Belgium, the Special Export (GXS). Very quickly, he continues the development of his company by establishing a communication agency and creating, in 1934, a new factory in Genval.

These two initiatives will be essential for the future. Indeed, the group will always distinguish itself by strong advertising campaigns and marketing strategies. As for the choice of Genval, it enabled the entity to diversify its activity while attacking the hotel area. Moreover, the headquarters of the brewery group John Martin is still located in this town of the Walloon Brabant. One of the flagship beers of the company, Martin's Pale Ale, appeared in 1950. The hopped beers meeting a success today, especially in Belgium, John Martin gave it a IPA version, characterized in 2011 by the addition of hop flowers. If this India Pale Ale contributed to give it a presence in the rays of supermarkets, Pale Ale was supplanted in reputation with the general public by the armada of the Gordon, whose first opus, the Finest Gold dates back to 1991, as well as by the mild fruity Timmermans.

Indeed, the group took over in 1993 the specialist of lambic located in Itterbeek, contrasting sharply with a range of beers up to that point with rather British accents. It seems that to perfect its "Brabant-British" double anchoring, the group announces at the end of 2013 the acquisition of the Waterloo beers, thus hoping to relaunch this brand in the frame of the bicentenary of the battle of the same name.

A microbrewery (see chapter on the Microbreweries page 144) is also located on the site of the farm of Mont-Saint-Jean, which was used as a hospital for the troops of Wellington in 1815.

Since 2004, it is a grandson of John Martin, Anthony, who is in charge of the brewery group while his brother, John, held the reins of the whole Martin's hotels. Anthony is at the head of a trade generating 50 million euros of turnover of which the majority is made abroad. The group claims 35 different special beers for a total volume of 200,000 hectolitres. The company entrusted the production of its beers to various independent breweries including Bocq in Purnode (Namur) and Martens in Bocholt (Limburg).