Ter Dolen, Abbey beer in Houthalen-Helchteren, Belgium

Ter Dolen is an abbey beer brewed at Kasteelbrouwerij De Dool in Helchteren, part of Houthalen-Helchteren. The brewery occupies the outbuildings of Ter Dolen castle, whose history dates to 1282. The bottle label shows a dark building silhouette and the words "Limburgs Abdijbier"; the blond version is 6.1% ABV, while the tripel is 8.1%.

The castle of Ter Dolen in Helchteren is first mentioned in 1282 and served as a summer residence and refuge for the abbots of Sint-Truiden Abbey. After the French Revolution it was sold to private owners, later housed a school, and stood empty from 1977. Mieke Desplenter bought it in late 1993, renovated it, and opened the brewery in July 1994.

The name Ter Dolen comes from the castle 'De Dool', which served as a summer residence and refuge for the abbots of Sint-Truiden Abbey from the 13th century. The beers carry the Erkend Belgisch Abdijbier logo since 2008, a certification from the Union of Belgian Brewers. The blond is refermented in the bottle, a technique also used for the dark, tripel and kriek.

The brewery sits in the front buildings of castle Ter Dolen in Helchteren, where a 25 hl brewhouse and its tanks were installed in 1994. Since 2013 all beers are bottled on site, after a centrifuge replaced the kieselguhr filter and a fine filter replaced the plate filter in 2015. The castle itself stood empty from 1977 until Mieke Desplenter bought it at the end of 1993 and began renovations.

The label's large pale letters spell BLOND with a darker silhouette of the castle showing through them, and the small print reads "LIMBURGS ABDIJBIER". The bottle in the photograph holds 33 cl at 8.1% alcohol, the strength of Ter Dolen Tripel, not the 6.1% Blond.