No other country boasts a brewing tradition more richly diverse than Belgium. Dating back over two thousand years to the Julius Caesar-led Roman invasion in the first century BC, the natives of Belgae as it was called then were producing beer.  After the fall of the Roman Empire, the church took control of the land and the monks took an interest in beer.  Breweries where set up in every abbey and from the 5th century on, monastery’s and the monks held a monopoly on brewing, supplying innkeepers and nobility with beer.

The production of beer dates back some ten thousand years to the Sumerians and to the Babylonians.  Under the Egyptian pharaohs, the making of beer was strictly controlled as it played an honoured role within society, particularly because it was used as an offering to the gods.

Making its way to Europe around 5000 BC, beer was consumed in early Greece and Rome until wine replaced it as the favourite beverage in those countries.

In the 14th century, as the Duchy of Brabant in Belgium was under German influence, the use of hops was imposed for the manufacturing of beer.  This improved considerably the quality of beer as it permitted a better control of the fermentation process and of the bacterial development.  At the time, drinking beer was safer than drinking water as cholera could be transmitted by water, while the dangerous bacteria were eliminated in the brewing process.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Belgium became part of Burgundy and as a consequence brewing technology and tradition spread to the whole of northern Europe. Not surprisingly, more than a few Belgian breweries can trace their foundation back further than 300 years.  The most famous of all, the six Belgium Trappist beers, are still brewed in active abbeys.

Types of Belgium Beer:

Abbey beers:

Abbey beers or Bières d’Abbaye is a term that was originally used for any monastic or monastic-style beer.  After the introduction of an official Trappist beer designation by the International Trappist Association in 1997, it came to mean products similar in style or presentation to monastic beers.  They are now generally brewed under license by a commercial brewery, using the name and recipes of an abbey that has ceased brewing itself.  Because the denomination of “Abbey beer” has been widely used for marketing purposes, sometimes by breweries not related to any existing abbey, the Union of Belgian Breweries has introduced the label ‘Certified Belgian Abbey Beer’.

Trappist beers

A beer may be called “Trappist” only if it is a manufactured by Cistercian monks. Their monasteries are divided into two orders, one of which is historically attached to the Abbey of La Grande Trappe, in Normandy hence the name “Trappist”.

Widely considered the quintessential of Belgian beers, they are produced in varying colours and strengths, all of which are rich, smooth and utterly complex. Only beer that is brewed in one of 6 monasteries in Belgium can be classified as being this type of beer. The Trappist beers adhere to 3 strict conditions:

• must be brewed within a Trappist Abbey
• must be brewed under the supervision and responsibility of the monks
• the majority of the revenue must be dedicated to charitable work.

Each bottle of beer that is brewed comes with a label on it clearly indicating that it is the genuine Trappist product and that monastery has complied with rules decreed by the International Trappist Association.

The monks only brew enough beer to run the monastery and fund charitable causes. They will not make more than they need to sell, regardless of demand.  Some monasteries only sell at the brewery or in nearby inns and only to individual buyers.

The original Trappist Breweries are Orval, Chimay, Westvleteren, Rochefort, Westmalle and Ache.

White beer

White beer is usually brewed from equal quantities of pale malted barley and raw wheat or wheat malt, sometimes with the addition of oats. It is spiced with coriander seeds and dried Curaçao orange peels.  It gets its name due to suspended yeast and wheat proteins which cause the beer to look hazy or white when cold.

White beer is descended from those beers which were not brewed with hops but instead were flavoured and preserved with a blend of spices and other plants referred to as “gruit” (a herbal mixture used for bittering and flavoring beer).  It still uses gruit although nowadays that mixture consists mainly of coriander, orange, bitter orange, and hops. The taste is only slightly hoppy.

Many breweries had produced white beer since the beginning of 20th century but all had closed one after the other, the last one in 1955.  The style was revived by a passionate and highly competent beer-lover, Pierre Celis, from the small town of Hoegaarden which gives its name to the best-known beer in this category.

The beers have a somewhat sour taste due to the presence of lactic acid.  It’s highly refreshing, effervescent character with a fresh herbal and spice taste and a slight lactic acidity makes white beer a summertime favourite.

Lambics and  fruit beers

Lambic beer is brewed from grist composed of 70% barley malt and 30% unmalted wheat. It is a very unique beer to Belgium and wild yeasts which are grown in abundance near Brussels are used in its fermentation process. The actual time that it takes for this beer to ferment is considerably longer than others. Some last between 3 and 6 months and others it as long as 2 to 3 years. Lambic is matured for at least two years in oak barrels.

Fruit beers may be made using Lambic beer and contain either a fruit concentrate or fresh fruit in them. The most commonly produced and drunk of the fruit beers is Kriek which contains cherries but there are many other varieties including those made using blackcurrants, raspberries and peaches. Once the fruit has been added to the Lambic beer, a second fermentation process takes place.

The market has forced many Belgian breweries to merge, creating large corporations such as Inbev, which owns Stella Artois, Hoegaarden and Anheuser-Busch, among others. However, small breweries and local brands have recently emerged in every corner of the country.  Although the consumption of beer as a whole may be on the decline, the production of these special regional beers is on the rise.

There are many other styles of Belgium beers too numerous to name so I”l leave that up to you to research.  Happy hunting.

One of the Top Rated beers in the world (98/100), the Corsendonk Abbey Dubbel Brown Ale ($10/750ml) pours out an incredibly dark, rich almost porter/stout-like colour with a full 2 inch dark beige head.  The rich, roasted malt, creamy yeast and almost raisiny aroma are backed up with a chocolaty-coffee flavour, dried plum, raisin and molasses.  The carbonation is fairly high allowing for a bracing, balanced finish.  Not overly hoppy; which is refreshing.  Excellent finish and I could probably have had two if not for the 7.5% abv.