== History ==
Started The history of what eventually became the Mort Subite brand name starts in 1869 when Johanna Philipina Bastaerts married Jan Fransiscus De Keersmaeker, a farmer. Johanna had inherited what was previously a brewery from her brother, and Jan soon became a part of it. The Bastaerts-De Keersmaeker family had five children, including three sons. One son, Felix Jan De Keersmaeker (1840 – 1912) eventually inherited the brewery. Felix, who married twice, had one son named Hubert (1896 – 1945) who took over the brewery at a young age after the death of his father. After the end of the First World War Hubert was called to complete his compulsory military service as a solider stationed in Germany. There he learned about German brewing methods and styles. Upon his return Hubert returned to brewing both lambic as well as top-fermented beers. His top fermented beers eventually became popular under the name Hert Ale, and he decided to sell his geuze under the name Geuze de Hert which lasted until 1971. Throughout the middle part of the 20th century the De Keersmaeker family both farmed and brewed. In 1936 a completely new brewing system was ordered. By the time it was ready, World War II had broken out and the Hubert managed to hide the as of yet uninstalled kettles under piles of straw when the Germans invaded in the spring of 1940. As was common in many of the small villages, the brewer also became the mayor. Hubert was elected Mayor of Kobbegem in 1932 and remained in office until his accidental death in 1945. Despite this tragedy, Hubert’s widow along with their four children, decided to continue the expansion that was planned before Hubert’s death. Construction began in 1950 and a new brewing hall was ready for use in 1952 which is still in use during the winter months today. Of Hubert’s four sons, his oldest son Paul went to work at the brewery. His brother André joined him in 1958 after he finished his military service. The start of Paul’s political career came in 1958 after being elected mayor of Kobbegem. The demands of his political career would later compel him to sell his shares in the brewery completely. Though the De Keersmaeker Pils beer ballooned to 60% of the overall production by etc etc etc1960, its popularity eventually fell, and by 1972 André was back to producing just lambic. In [[Books#Geuze_.26_Kriek:_The_Secret_of_Lambic_Beern|''Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic'']], Van den Steen, “the Mort Subite named appeared two years previously in 1970, when a well-known Brussels café and geuze blending business A la Mort Subite was taken over from the Vossen brothers”, some of which was purchased from De Keersmaeker brewery. Eventually, De Keersmaeker took over the name and the Geuze Den Hert becamse Geuze Mort Subite. Mort Subite made its appearance in Belgium and France, and as early as 1984 in the United States.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> In 1985 De Keersmaeker hired a new brewer, Bruno Reinders, who was only twenty years old at the time. By 1989, De Keersmaeker was looking to acquire other breweries. De Keersmaeker eventually acquired Eylenbosch in Schepdaal not for brewing, but for storage. Additionally in 1989, Paul De Keersmaeker sold his half of the brewery to the Alken-Maes group. At this point, overall quality began to suffer and numerous infections plagued the brewery. To combat this a new production manager, Marcel Lebeau (previously of [[Brasserie_Belle_Vue|Belle Vue]]) was appointed.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> Lebeau ascertained that the problem was originating in the coolship which was too small and too deep, and that it could not handle the amount of wort being pumped into it. To combat this problem, he began to divide the batches in two and pump half into a steel tank which was filled with environmental air. When analysis showed that the batches pumped into the tank picked up as much wild yeast to initiate fermentation, the coolship was eventually retired all together.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> When the Alken-Maes group was taken over by Scottish & New Castle André decided it was time to sell his share in the brewery and move on. Thus, the De Keersmaeker name was out of the brewing business. When Marcel Lebeau moved on, Bruno Reinders moved into the production manager position and shepherded the Mort Subite through a renovation and revamping under Scottish & New Castle. The company invested more than ne million Euros in the brewery. In 2000, Mort Subite made the jump into sweetened lambic by introducing a sweetened kriek followed by a framboise and a peach lambic (made only for Canada<ref name=“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>). By 2005 they had introduced the Mort Subite Xtreme line, a watered down young lambic/fruit juice concoction.<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> In 2007, Mort Subite reinroduced the Oude Kriek again, followed by a new push for the Oude Geuze. In 2008 the Alken-Maes name was passed over to Heineken who continued the investment in the Mort Subite name with Bruno Reinders still at the helm of production. Currently, the Mort Subite Oude Geuze and Oude Kriek are bottled at [[Brouwerij_Boon|Boon]]. Mort Subite is also a member of [[HORAL]].<ref name=“GeuzeKriek”>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> <ref name=“HoralMortSubite”>http://www.horal.be/vereniging/mort-subite-kobbegem Horal - Mort Subite (Dutch)</ref>
== Beers ==